Press Releases

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Magpa-Pasko na, wala pa ring implementing rules? Seven months after it was signed into law, Republic Act 10754, which grants persons with disabilities (PWDs) goods discounts and tax breaks, remains in limbo after the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) has yet to be issued

Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said he will “not oppose” President Duterte’s plan to “in effect, mothball the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)” but the Philippines should be ready to “finance and fill” whatever “logistical void” is left by American troops. “The