Recto to Digong: Free sick, old prisoners this Christmas

19 November 2016, Comment are Off
With less than 40 days before Christmas, release papers of old, sickly and infirm prisoners should now be on their way to Malacañang, Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said in appealing anew to President Duterte to give “the gift of clemency” next month to frail prisoners who...

‘Malayo at malabo,’ Recto says of ‘ICCexit’

18 November 2016, Comment are Off
President Duterte’s threat to pull out from the International Criminal Court (ICC) “is just one of his trademark ‘thinking out loud’ moments which spice up his public speeches.” This is Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto’s take on the Duterte’s statement that the Philippines may...

Rules for added tax breaks for PWDs to be signed Dec. 1

18 November 2016, Comment are Off
The long-awaited rules that will implement tax breaks for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and their kin who care for them will be signed on Dec. 1, Department of Social Welfare and Development officials said in reply to a query from Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto during...

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...