Media

More public funds can be sent to the grassroots without tinkering with the Constitution, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today, demolishing an argument that only through a Charter revision can local governments have a bigger share of tax collections. Recto said if...

Bring out your calculators and count the cost. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today pressed Finance and Budget officials to compute the “price tag” of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, saying that a “clear fiscal picture” will pave the way for BBL’s passage. “We are all for...

For democracy to thrive, a free and untrammelled press is essential. To put a muzzle on independent reporting is to limit the exchange of ideas essential to good governance. Citizens, whether they blog to their community or broadcast to the country, should not be deprived of this...

The Senate and House conferees to the panel finalizing President Duterte’s proposed new taxes have agreed “to cut the rates and the requirements” on the estate tax, which is levied on a deceased person’s assets. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said “billions in...

Government has no choice but to follow the Procurement Law, which compels it to demand refund for the P3.5 billion in taxpayer’s money paid to the French manufacturer of ineffective dengue vaccines. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said that under Republic Act 9184,...

In the wake of dengue vaccine flop, Health officials should guarantee that Filipinos are now “inoculated” from supply-driven vaccines whose efficacy has not yet been established, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today. “If there’s one lesson to be learned from t...

The Senate version of the so-called TRAIN bill does not only cut income taxes but also the red tape in paying them, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today. The Senate action, Recto said, is contained in several amendments to the National Internal Revenue Code which,...

A reenacted budget arising from a House-Senate deadlock will result in a spending regime fraught with legal landmines, which will grant the executive branch wide discretion on how public money will be spent. This warning was aired by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto in...