Tap huge OFW talent pool to end gov’t ‘technical deficit’

14 February 2018, Comment are Off
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has advised government to look at returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in filling tens of thousands of vacant jobs in the bureaucracy and in government-funded “build, build, build” projects. From schools to the police to...

Rice policy should not bloat P172 B NFA liabilities

14 February 2018, Comment are Off
As it grapples with ways to satisfy the “unli-rice needs” of 106.5 million Filipinos, the government should see to it that the solution should not further bloat the P172 billion liabilities of the National Food Authority, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today. “The...

2.5 M tons of rice lost to poor postharvest, enough to feed 14 M Pinoys

12 February 2018, Comment are Off
About 17 percent of palay harvest is lost to absent or poor post-harvest facilities and practices yearly, resulting in a wastage of about two and a half million metric tons of rice—enough to meet the annual rice needs of Metro Manila, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto...

If they were a company, P40 B remittance of Pinoys in Kuwait puts them in Top 40

12 February 2018, Comment are Off
The quarter of a million Filipinos in Kuwait sent home P40.6 billion last year, an amount which, if they were a company, would have ranked them the Philippines’ 37th biggest in terms of gross revenues, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said. If you add up their remittances...

Free irrigation now a law, but biggest challenge is to ‘build, build, build’ more irrigation—Recto

08 February 2018, Comment are Off
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto hailed President Duterte’s signing on Feb. 2 of the Free Irrigation Law, saying it should “open the floodgates of an irrigation building spree, which is needed for us to feed our growing number of people.” Republic Act 10969 grants free...

Recto: Show data to support BBL’s ‘awesome’ fiscal powers

08 February 2018, Comment are Off
Saying that the “law is in the details,” Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today pressed the government to submit “the economic fine print” that will underpin the proposed Bangsamoro government’s fiscal autonomy. In a request coursed through Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Recto...

With WPS fenced off, ‘east Phil seas’, Benham can be food, fuel source

07 February 2018, Comment are Off
Statement of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto I support President Duterte’s pivot in Benham Rise. With the West Philippine Sea effectively fenced off, we have to look to the “east Philippine seas” for our food and fuel. If there’s an impregnable Great Wall of Sand from...

DOH has P634 M ad budget to fight vaccine fake news

05 February 2018, Comment are Off
The Department of Health has a P634 million advertising budget for this year, “which it should use to fight the fake news that all vaccines are bad.” The suggestion was made by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, who said that the DOH’s “advertising war chest” is big enough...