Explanation of vote on Senate Resolution No. 508 (nominating Miriam Santiago for conferment of the Quezon Service Cross)

27 September 2017, Comment are Off
To borrow Kennedy, Senator Miriam’s mastery of the Constitution was awesome that when the best constitutional experts will be summoned to the Senate in the future, it can only be regarded as the greatest gathering of legal minds in one room, except when Senator Miriam dined alone...

With 25,000 casuals, DSWD is ‘endo capital’ of gov’t – Recto

27 September 2017, Comment are Off
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today called for the initial doubling of the number of permanent job items in the Department of Social Welfare and Development— which he called the “contractualization capital” of the bureaucracy—due to its high number of temporary...

Congested jails to run out of food money by October, Recto warns

26 September 2017, Comment are Off
About 150,000 inmates in 446 Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-run jails in the country may face “a forced last quarter diet” as their food budget is expected to run out by mid-October due to the surge in the number of detainees locked up for drug offenses. Recto said BJMP’s...

P1,000 hike in gov’t workers’ ‘OOTD’ allowance assured

25 September 2017, Comment are Off
The annual clothing allowance of 1.12 million civilian national government employees will increase to P6,000 next year, from the current P5,000, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today. The P1,000 hike for the purchase of what Recto describes as the “civil servant’s...

Recto: Rental budget of gov’t offices shoots up to P17.4 B

23 September 2017, Comment are Off
Like a family scouting for its first home, government should explore “rent-to-own” options for offices it rents to the tune of billions of pesos a year, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said. “There should be a plan in which chosen government offices can graduate from...

Salalima resignation should not lead to “low-batt, offline” implementation of ICT projects, reforms

22 September 2017, Comment are Off
The resignation of DICT Secretary Rodolfo Salalima should not lead to the “low-batt, offline” implementation of projects and reforms in the ICT (information and communications technology) sector, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today. “After power and water,...

Recto: DepEd needs new procurement ‘lesson plan’ to avoid failing grade

20 September 2017, Comment are Off
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said he feels sorry for his former teacher, Education Secretary Leonor Briones, as the “latter had inherited a culture of underspending and a broken system of procurement which delays the delivery of equipment and books.” “The present...

At least 3,827 Pinoys in jail in 52 countries

19 September 2017, Comment are Off
At least 3,827 Filipinos were languishing in jails in 52 countries and territories as of the end of last year, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said, citing a 1,084-page Department of Foreign Affairs report to the Senate. But the figure could go up to 4,452 if 625...