Press Releases

Despite President Aquino’s order to the Bureau of Customs to stop inspections of balikbayan boxes, Sen. Ralph Recto said “outdated rules” on OFW-sent packages must be changed. “The order of the President is very laudable and time-on-target,” Recto said. “But what the OFWs want is

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph G. Recto is set to file a BBL – or Balikbayan Box Law – that will raise the tax-exempt value of the contents of a balikbayan box to $2,000 from the present $500. “If the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is insisting that it is just implementing existing

The chair of the Senate Finance Subcommittee reviewing the Bureau of Customs (BOC) budget said agency officials will be grilled on the status of non-intrusive inspection techniques, which could detect contraband goods without opening tens of thousands of balikbayan boxes sent

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has a budget of P3.2 billion this year. Last year, it collected P1.01 billion every day. This year it has revenue goal of P436.6 billion or P1.2 billion per day. With this amount of money, it can certainly pay for a CCTV system, or what we can call

Based on the 2016 Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BESF), government “training and scholarship expenses” will jump from this year’s P27.12 billion to the proposed P32.75 billion for next year, a figure almost double of last year’s P17.51 billion. But Senate

I am looking forward to working with the youngest member of the Senate. With our agenda full, hard labor awaits him here.  With his experience, he can certainly enrich the discussions on the budget and the BBL. It is also worth noting that his liberty came on the 70th anniversary

Car plates and stickers for brand-new cars issued within seven days Registration of old cars, complete with car plates and stickers, done within two hours New driver’s license processed within four hours Old driver’s licenses renewed within 60 minutes These are the “performance

The national government is setting aside P50.6 billion in the proposed 2016 national budget for the salary hike of its 1.3 million workers, details of which will be fleshed out in a bill the Palace will later send to Congress. Although the Palace is still mum on the bill’s

A bill making the caring of a person with disability (PWD) tax-deductible nears approval in the Senate after it was reported out for floor debates Monday. One of the measure’s authors, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph G. Recto, explained in his sponsorship speech that the bill