DOH must ‘inoculate’ PH from supply-driven vaccines

04 December 2017, Comment are Off
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...

Senate shrinks ITR pages, cuts red tape, simplifies BIR procedures

04 December 2017, Comment are Off
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,...

Reenacted budget fraught with landmines, makes Palace powerful

04 December 2017, Comment are Off
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...

‘Sycip was keeper of national ledger who told us that our assets are bigger than our liabilities’

09 October 2017, Comment are Off
The country has many Taipans but one true business titan, and that was Washington Sycip. His counsel was most sought after, his advice prized, that even among competing interests he was a shared resource, because having his name on the board is in itself a seal of good...

Recto bats for P15 B more for Marawi rebuild

08 October 2017, Comment are Off
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto is proposing that Malacañang be given a standby fund of P15 billion for Marawi reconstruction, on top of the P10 billion that is already in the 2018 national budget bill. Recto said the additional P15 billion for the rehabilitation of the...

Teachers can have higher allowances, take-home pay by Jan. 1 – Recto

08 October 2017, Comment are Off
Threatened by a P30 billion cut, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today called for the rechanneling of DepEd’s 2018 budget to “low hanging fruits” which can be used to increase a number of teacher’s allowances. If these “benefit amelioration” items will be added to the...

BOC told to right errors in balikbayan box rules, easy entry of disaster relief

07 October 2017, Comment are Off
The lawmaker who was the first to point out the tedious requirements in shipping balikbayan boxes today praised the order of Commissioner Isidro Lapena to freeze the Bureau of Customs’ guidelines on tax-free packages sent home by OFWs “as a blow against red tape.” Senate...

Recto to Bato: We find faults, but we also find extra funds

04 October 2017, Comment are Off
The Senate may find fault in the PNP, but it also finds funding for them. And the Senate helps the police when it does both. Far from ingrates, the Senate has expressed its support to the PNP by not only approving, year in and year out, a higher budget for the PNP, but adds more...