IKOT.PH
With the pandemic still battering the country’s employment numbers, Senator Joel Villanueva called on the government to “wring out as many jobs as possible” from the next year’s P5.02 trillion national budget. “We should be creating more jobs out of the buck. This budget should be a job generator,” Villanueva stressed. The veteran legislator said […]
If government really intends to extend the grant of Special Risk Allowance (SRA) and COVID-19 Active Duty Hazard Pay (AHDP) to health workers next year, it should send to Congress a “budget errata” specifying the required amounts that will have to be included in the 2022 national budget, Senator Joel Villanueva said. “Kung seryoso po […]
Senator Joel Villanueva said he sees no reason why the Commission of Audit (COA) or the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) should withhold the names of the 15 Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) who owe the government some P1.365 billion in unpaid license fees. Villanueva said the government should not allow these 15 POGOs […]
Senator Joel Villanueva extolled the first recipients of the Philippine Senate Medal of Excellence awards as heroes who shone light on the country in a time of pandemic gloom — Olympians Hidilyn Diaz, Nesthy Petecio, Eumir Marcial and Carlo Paalam. Villanueva hailed the Filipino Olympians for “their solid performances in the Tokyo Olympics embodied the […]
For helping keep the economy afloat with their P1 billion a day remittance, Filipino seafarers deserve a “lifeboat of rights and privileges,” Senator Joel Villanueva said in sponsoring the proposed “Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers” bill. Decades since the Philippines became a “shipping manning superpower”, Villanueva said it is time “to put aboard one vessel […]
The “sariling sikap” production of learning modules by public schools will cost at least P15.1 billion next year, one of the biggest items in the Department of Education’s proposed P629.8 billion obligation budget for 2022, Senator Joel Villanueva said. “To compare, the budget for new classrooms is about P2.92 billion. For new chairs and desks, […]
Senator Joel Villanueva has urged the government to promptly hold a top-level dialogue with the health workers’ groups in recognition of their services as frontliners in saving lives in these critical times. “Our healthcare workers are already overworked and exposed to COVID-19 infection. They deserve better treatment and they need not go on walkouts or […]
Senator Joel Villanueva said funds for the two special pay allowances for medical front liners should be “rolled over” in next year’s national budget. Villanueva is however proposing a bigger 2022 allocation for the Special Risk Allowance (SRA) and the COVID-19 Active Hazard Duty Pay (AHDP) so that health workers may receive bigger amounts of […]
The fund intended for helping Filipinos overseas, including over 10 million overseas Filipinos, in the 2022 national budget should be augmented to reflect how the government values the welfare of overseas Filipinos, Senator Joel Villanueva said. According to the National Expenditure Program for next year released by the DBM recently, Villanueva said the Assistance to […]
The Senate is rushing legislation that will put a “mantle of protection” on some 1.5 million freelancers and gig economy workers whose numbers ballooned during the pandemic. Senator Joel Villanueva, the labor committee chair who is spearheading the codification of their rights, said freelancers are the most vulnerable from abuse and exploitation. Part of the […]