IKOT.PH
Coinciding with the observance of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Senator Risa Hontiveros expressed alarm over the non-allocation of funds for the procurement of cancer medicines in the proposed 2018 National Government budget. Hontiveros, who is the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women and Vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Health, said that […]
The House of Representatives this week unanimously approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to uphold the rights of caregivers to decent employment and income, as well as protect them against abuse, harassment, violence, and exploitation. House Bill No. 6396 or the proposed “Caregivers Welfare Act,” authored by a number of House […]
A content-based approach to the sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax would generate more revenue for the government instead of a volume-based scheme, Senator Win Gatchalian has said as he called on the government to develop technological and knowledge capacities to implement the scheme. Gatchalian revealed that the content-based system could generate P47 billion in government […]
Not only did the Senate retain the value-added tax (VAT) exemption of senior citizens, it also seeks to allocate funding for a universal social pension that would benefit all poor senior citizens in the country. Under Senate Bill 1592 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) bill, part of the incremental revenues […]
To ensure humanitarian help for the most vulnerable when disaster strikes in any of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has proposed to forge a partnership with the ASEAN and seeks to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding between the […]
At the Senate hearing of the proposed 2018 budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros pushed for the “universality” of social pension for all senior citizens and immediately for the “most senior” and indigent among them. Hontiveros said that there should be universality of social pension for […]
Senator Cynthia Villar has asked the Department of Health (DOH) to address the problem of open defecation in poor coastal communities by making sure that funding is available for needed programs. During the Committee on Finance hearing on the P104 billion proposed budget of DOH for 2018, Villar asked Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial to […]
The proposed Department of Health (DOH) budget for next year’s operations of government-run drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation centers will get a massive P2.31 billion cut under the 2018 national budget bill. The DOH has a proposed gross 2018 budget of P164.8 billion, 9 percent up from this year’s P151.3 billion. Both of the […]
Senator Grace Poe vowed to push for final approval of funding the government’s feeding program included in next year’s proposed P3.767 trillion spending plan, as she stressed that the program was a form of a safety net for students suffering from malnutrition. Poe, a staunch advocate of free nutri-meals for students, said a total […]
Senator Loren Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said that it is possible to uplift the lives of small farmers by addressing the nutritional needs of Filipino children. Legarda cited the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) nutrition program where small farmers plant the requirements for feeding programs. It is a convergence […]