Tag: Department of Social Welfare and Development

Finance Secretary Frederick Go has backed removing excise taxes on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene but rejected suspending taxes on gasoline and other fuels, citing an estimated P12 billion monthly revenue loss.

National Security Adviser Eduardo SL Oban Jr. warned Tuesday that substandard steel is a growing national security risk, threatening lives, critical infrastructure and the country’s defense supply chain.

The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, voted 13-1 Wednesday to revise the voting threshold for convicting or acquitting Vice President Sara Duterte, counting only senators able to participate in the trial rather than all 24 members. Senator Francis Escudero, who presides over the proceedings, cast the lone dissenting vote, maintaining his earlier ruling that conviction requires 16 votes, or two-thirds of the full Senate. Six opposition senators declined to vote. Escudero said the new rule applies only to the current circumstances, with two senators detained, one on medical leave and another in hiding, and does not bind future impeachment courts. He added that fractions in calculating the two-thirds threshold would be rounded up. Defense lawyers reserved the right to challenge the ruling before the Supreme Court.

Philippine software firm BossLabs AI is moving beyond its home market to expand across Southeast Asia, with Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand identified as its first key destinations.