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Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto highlighted the sustained strength of the country’s labor market as the unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in October 2024, bringing the year-to-date average to 4.0%—well below the full-year target range. The Philippine Development Plan sets the...

Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto highlighted that the country’s inflation rate stays firmly within the target range, reflecting the government’s effective interventions to ease supply pressures for key food items, especially rice. “We are very much on track in keeping our...

PRESS RELEASE Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has been chosen as this year’s Lifetime Contributor Awardee for the Public Sector—the highest recognition of the Asia CEO Awards—and has dedicated the prestigious accolade to the Department of Finance (DOF) family for its great...

PRESS RELEASE Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto expressed optimism over the 1.45 million new jobs created for Filipinos in August 2024, anticipating even more employment opportunities as inflation drops to a four-year low and the holiday season approaches. “I am very glad of the...

PRESS RELEASE Recto thanks House appro panel for endorsing DOF’s P33.75-B budget for 2025 that prioritizes digitalization for efficient tax admin and public service Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has thanked the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations panel for...

PRESS RELEASE Finance Secretary and Asian Development Bank (ADB) Governor for the Philippines Ralph G. Recto welcomed the launching of the ADB’s new country partnership strategy for the Philippines, which reflects its longstanding friendship and deep understanding of t...

PRESS RELEASE Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has welcomed the passage of Senate Resolution No. 139, concurring with the ratification of the Philippines’ participation in the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC), which will help stop tax evasion...

IN PHOTOS: Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto met with Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Director Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi to discuss ways on how the Department of Finance (DOF) can further support the services of the PGH and provide wider access to affordable health and medical care...

EXPLANATION OF VOTE SB 2506; Committee Report 597 INCREASING PENSION FOR SENIOR CITIZENS Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto 30 May 2022 Mr. President, my dear colleagues:  Age may just be a number, but the numbers on old-age pension are in the billions. The Social...

SPONSORSHIP SPEECH Senate Resolution Nos. 1002, 1004, 1005  on the Death of Susan Roces  Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto 23 May 2022 Mr. President, my dear colleagues: A colleague has lost her mother, the people an icon, and the nation is all the more poorer...

EXPLANATION OF VOTE SB 2450: Permanent Validity of the Certificates of Live Birth, Death and Marriage Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto 23 May 2022 Mr. President:  In five minutes, or by the time I have finished explaining my vote, 16 Filipinos would have been...

FIREARMS REGULATION (SB 1155; Committee Report 19)Explanation of Vote of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto02 Feb 2022 Mr. President, my dear colleagues: When I first requested Senator Ronald to act on my bill, which injects common sense into our firearms law, he...

Explanation of vote of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto31 January 2022 Mr. President, my dear colleagues: By proportion of structures destroyed, Marawi sustained more damage in 2017 than Manila in 1944. The U.S. Philippine Rehabilitation Act, however, took effect in...

SB 2044: DECLARING SAN JOSE, BATANGAS THE EGG BASKET OF THE PHILIPPINES Explanation of Vote of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto 31 January 2022 Mr. President, my dear colleagues: Kung ang almusal n’yo po kanina ay isang uri ng “log” —tapsilog, longsilog, tocilog,...

SB 2493: Vintage Vehicle Regulation ActExplanation of Vote of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto31 January 2022 The first automobile arrived in the Philippines in 1900, a “Georges Richard” imported from France by the store La Estrella del Norte for its customer, a...

Explanation of vote of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto31 January 2022 Exactly two years ago today, the swab test on the country’s COVID-19 Patient 2, a Chinese national, returned positive. A day later, on February 1, 2020, he expired. Patient 2 was confirmed as the...