Recto: Higher penalties for gov’t men who extort money, delay, pilfer balikbayan boxes.

31 January 2016, Comment are Off
Longer jail time and higher fines await Customs and other government employees who will pilfer balikbayan boxes or extort money from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in exchange for the release of handcarried or shipped cargo. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said these...

Deadlocked pay hike bill grants 14th month pay to gov’t employees

29 January 2016, Comment are Off
A bonus equivalent to one month pay is scheduled to be given to government workers in June, highlighting the need for the House and the Senate to break their impasse over a pay hike bill for state workers, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today. Recto said the...

Recto: Feared cuts in Magna Carta benefits expunged from SSL IV

27 January 2016, Comment are Off
Despite the deadlock in the House-Senate negotiation on the proposed government pay hike, there was, however, “tripartite agreement” on a provision guaranteeing that so-called Magna Carta benefits of government workers will not be taken away. This was disclosed by Senate...

Letter to Sen. Trillanes on the proposed amendments on SSL 4

25 January 2016, Comment are Off
Senate of the Philippines Ralph G. Recto Senate President Pro-Tempore January 18, 2016 Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV Chairperson Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization Senate of the Philippines Financial Center, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City Dear Senator Trillanes:...

Palace urged to back provision preserving benefits in government pay

23 January 2016, Comment are Off
No to ‘magna cutting’ of benefits – Recto Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto today appealed to the Palace to consider endorsing his proposed amendments to the Salary Standardization Law IV (SSL IV) in order to thwart the possible scrapping of Magna Carta benefits being...

Bitay sa may tsapa na protektor ng mga lokal na El Chapo –Recto

22 January 2016, Comment are Off
Death penalty must be imposed for those involved in large-scale drug trafficking, including military and police officials who coddle and conspire with them. Although I am fundamentally against capital punishment, the impunity by which men in uniform coddle and align themselves...

Scrapping of Magna Carta benefits in SSL might trigger protests -Recto 

21 January 2016, Comment are Off
Instead of a pay hike, 99 percent of Department of Science and Technology (DOST) personnel will get a pay cut on the first year of the implementation of the proposed Salary Standardization Law IV (SSL IV), due to a provision there which threatens to repeal all Magna Carta for...

‘BBL’ also hikes tax exemption of personal, household items OFWs home for good can bring

20 January 2016, Comment are Off
Not just a balikbayan box, but can also be a balikbayan van. Overseas Filipinos returning to the Philippines for good are also entitled to ship home tax-free up to P350,000 worth of personal and household effects, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, author of the Balikbayan...