Statement on the gov’t proposal to raise car registration fees

02 August 2017, Comment are Off
Government has a triple whammy tax proposal on vehicles. Already known are the proposed additional taxes on motor vehicles and on the fuels that run them. Not yet on the public radar is the third one, which seeks to double car registration fees, or what is officially known as the...

Recto to Palace: Don’t just veto tuition bill, send your version

02 August 2017, Comment are Off
How can they convince the youth that 3-in-1 coffee tax is good for their future, but free college tuition is not? Should President Duterte follow his advisers’ recommendation to veto the free college tuition bill, “such a setback would be like losing the first round of a boxing...

Luzon’s ‘zero dark’ prospect in 2024 prompts need to resume WPH oil hunt

28 July 2017, Comment are Off
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today backed moves by the country’s top diplomat to find “a constitutionally-compliant win-win arrangement” that will allow Manila and Beijing to jointly explore for oil in the West Philippine Sea. With the Malampaya field off Palawan...

Recto: Cut red tape in the sending of disaster text alerts

27 July 2017, Comment are Off
If flood and storm text alerts have been few and infrequent, blame it on the circuitous way that proposed messages are “processed and approved before they are sent out,” Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto said today. “It is not the fault of telcos,” Recto said, “but the...

Amid reports of underspending, senators to grill agencies on fund utilization

27 July 2017, Comment are Off
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said senators would cross party lines in asking agencies during the 2018 national budget hearings if they are on track in spending their current year allocations to find out if underspending still plagues budget utilization as it had in...

Recto: PH to take half-century to wipe out irrigation backlog

26 July 2017, Comment are Off
At the rate government is spending for irrigation, it will take almost a half a century to bring water to all of the country’s 1.3 million hectares of “irrigable land,” Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto said today. Recto made this point following the Senate’s approval of a...

Recto to BOC: Revisit your rule requiring OFWs to include receipts of new goods in balikbayan box

26 July 2017, Comment are Off
Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto has urged the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to start amending its rules in the shipment of balikbayan boxes, beginning “with some commonsensical changes” to regulations which had elicited complaints from overseas Filipino workers. “For example,...

Infra boom needs a builder-in-chief ‘Focus on infra, pivot from helmet presidency to hardhat presidency’

25 July 2017, Comment are Off
A SONA is a report card for the past year, and explains the homework for the next year. Unfortunately, the theatrics can get in the way of the tasks. A SONA is a report card for the past year, and explains the homework for the next year. Unfortunately, the theatrics can get in...