Dateline PhiliPPines

for all of them to follow rules and observe proper decorum during plenary sessions. “It is a concern that decorum should be strictly followed, not just in committee hearings but even during Senate sessions,” Villanueva said partly in Filipino.

“I think we’re all grown-ups and professionals. And as public servants we are all aware that public office is a public trust.”

Sen. JV Ejercito said the incident was a challenge for him and other senators to use parliamentary terms in Filipino, while Sen. Francis Escudero said Padilla did not violate any rules. g the deficit has continued to outperform the program mainly because spending is lower," she said.

"This is challenging ... because we still need government spending to support economic growth."

Velasquez also noted that interest rates were also moving in the government's favor as these have come down from last year's highs and will likely continue to do so.

ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa, meanwhile, said fiscal authorities "will attempt to help foster faster economic growth to ensure the more important metric of debt to GDP (gross domestic product) remains on a downward trajectory." g