Para hindi clueless, reinstall the ‘rearview mirror’ provision in GAA –Recto

15 November 2016, Comment are Off
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto today called for the reinstallation of the “rearview mirror” in the national budget so that policymakers and the public would know if projects funded in past general appropriations laws have indeed been implemented. Thick the 5,097-page 2017...

Recto: Even without IRR, P150K balikbayan boxes should be deemed tax-exempt

14 November 2016, Comment are Off
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has no option but to waive the payment of taxes for balikbayan boxes containing less than P150,000 worth of “pasalubong” as the new law prescribing higher tax-exempt rates should be deemed in effect. The absence...

Itemizing ‘mega lump sums’ makes budget FOI-compliant, prevents underspending — Recto

13 November 2016, Comment are Off
Senate begins Monday floor debates on President Duterte’s maiden national budget, a P3.3 trillion spending request, with billions in lump sums the Senate minority leader insisted “can still be itemized.” Senator Ralph Recto claims that there is a “bipartisan consensus” to demand...

Scientists, not bureaucrats, must greenlight BNPP rehab – Recto

12 November 2016, Comment are Off
The greenlight to rehabilitate must come from scientists, based on an unassailable study whose conclusion is that a dead plant can be safely resurrected beyond reasonable doubt. It should be a science-based decision, and not because someone has a “lightbulb” moment and then...

Action urged on thousands of gov’t nurses facing ‘endo’

12 November 2016, Comment are Off
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto is rallying his colleagues “to rescue the thousands of Department of Health jobs in peril” as the proposed 2017 budget for the DOH’s grassroots manpower deployment program will not be able to retain the number of personnel currently hired. Recto...

Recto: Next year’s P37-B Calamity Fund silent on unfinished Yolanda work

11 November 2016, Comment are Off
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto today called for the itemization of Yolanda reconstruction projects in next year’s proposed P37.2 billion Calamity Fund “in order to complete all rehabilitation work by end of 2017.” “There is still much work to be done in Eastern Visayas but...

Recto : Gameplan needed in rebooting PH-US ties under Trump

09 November 2016, Comment are Off
Here’s what Duterte should do in the opening days of the Trump era. First, send a nice congratulatory letter. And declare a moratorium on cursing. He should stop dropping F-bombs on the White House occupant. Those intercontinental expletives he fires do no good. Second, tap VP...

Recto: US snub must prod PH to tap local arms industry

02 November 2016, Comment are Off
The thwarted sale of assault rifles to the Philippine National Police (PNP) should prompt the government to jumpstart a program to locally manufacture arms and military equipment, Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said today. “It is a wake-up call for us to stop totally relying...