Before pitching new taxes, Palace must first issue rules on new PWD, balikbayan box laws

20 August 2016, Comment are Off
Before it rolls out its tax proposals, Malacañang should first issue the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the law granting tax breaks and other benefits for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and those of another law raising the tax-exempt value of balikbayan boxes. The...

Why just one week? Recto bats for truce longer than cellphone load expiry

20 August 2016, Comment are Off
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto has urged government to match the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) declaration of a seven-day ceasefire with its own declaration of a “longer ceasefire” because “peace, even if temporary, should have a validity period longer than a...

Recto to Palace: Itemize special powers projects in 2017 nat’l budget

14 August 2016, Comment are Off
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto urged Malacañang to itemize in the proposed 2017 national budget the projects and programs that it plans to implement pursuant to the grant by Congress of emergency powers to President Duterte to solve the transportation crisis. “Listing them in...

Emergency powers must cover flooding in NCR streets

13 August 2016, Comment are Off
In a megapolis that gets 144 days of rain in a year which turn 3,845 hectares flood-prone, any traffic plan authorized by emergency powers must include projects that will prevent monstrous gridlocks during rainy days. This was suggested by Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto who...

To erase backlog, Recto backs gov’t plan to make car plates locally

11 August 2016, Comment are Off
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto is backing the plan of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to manufacture car plates locally – a move, he said, “which would prevent a repeat of imported plates being seized at ports over a dispute in Customs duties.” Recto also...

Nation must learn to auto-delete the colorful parts of Digong’s statements

11 August 2016, Comment are Off
The nation should learn by now to “auto-delete” the “colorful parts” of President Duterte’s pronouncements and must not always take “his antics as policies.” This was Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto’s view on how to read the chief executive’s statements which may be “shocking”...

Tugade assures Senate of nationwide rollout of the 5-yr driver’s license by December

10 August 2016, Comment are Off
After its launch in Metro Manila next month, the five-year driver’s license will be rolled out nationwide before the end of the year, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arturo Tugade today assured senators hearing a bill which seeks the grant of presidential emergency...

Recto: LRT fare, road toll freeze until service improves

10 August 2016, Comment are Off
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto today welcomed government’s assurance that any hike in LRT 1 or MRT fares will only come after improvements in service that will be felt by train riders. The pledge was made by Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arturo Tugade ...