DEC
05
2017

Law compels gov’t to demand refund for faulty dengue vaccines

Government has no choice but to follow the Procurement Law, which compels it to demand refund for the P3.5 billion in taxpayer’s money paid to the French manufacturer of ineffective dengue vaccines. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said that under Republic Act 9184,
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DEC
04
2017

DOH must ‘inoculate’ PH from supply-driven vaccines

In the wake of dengue vaccine flop, Health officials should guarantee that Filipinos are now “inoculated” from supply-driven vaccines whose efficacy has not yet been established, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today. “If there’s one lesson to be learned from t
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DEC
04
2017

Senate shrinks ITR pages, cuts red tape, simplifies BIR procedures

The Senate version of the so-called TRAIN bill does not only cut income taxes but also the red tape in paying them, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said today. The Senate action, Recto said, is contained in several amendments to the National Internal Revenue Code which,
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DEC
04
2017

Reenacted budget fraught with landmines, makes Palace powerful

A reenacted budget arising from a House-Senate deadlock will result in a spending regime fraught with legal landmines, which will grant the executive branch wide discretion on how public money will be spent. This warning was aired by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto in
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OCT
09
2017

‘Sycip was keeper of national ledger who told us that our assets are bigger than our liabilities’

The country has many Taipans but one true business titan, and that was Washington Sycip. His counsel was most sought after, his advice prized, that even among competing interests he was a shared resource, because having his name on the board is in itself a seal of good
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OCT
08
2017

Recto bats for P15 B more for Marawi rebuild

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto is proposing that Malacañang be given a standby fund of P15 billion for Marawi reconstruction, on top of the P10 billion that is already in the 2018 national budget bill. Recto said the additional P15 billion for the rehabilitation of the
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OCT
08
2017

Teachers can have higher allowances, take-home pay by Jan. 1 – Recto

Threatened by a P30 billion cut, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto today called for the rechanneling of DepEd’s 2018 budget to “low hanging fruits” which can be used to increase a number of teacher’s allowances. If these “benefit amelioration” items will be added to the
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OCT
07
2017

BOC told to right errors in balikbayan box rules, easy entry of disaster relief

The lawmaker who was the first to point out the tedious requirements in shipping balikbayan boxes today praised the order of Commissioner Isidro Lapena to freeze the Bureau of Customs’ guidelines on tax-free packages sent home by OFWs “as a blow against red tape.” Senate
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OCT
04
2017

Recto to Bato: We find faults, but we also find extra funds

The Senate may find fault in the PNP, but it also finds funding for them. And the Senate helps the police when it does both. Far from ingrates, the Senate has expressed its support to the PNP by not only approving, year in and year out, a higher budget for the PNP, but adds more
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