Finance Sec. Ralph Recto Lightens Environment during Budget Talks w/ Joke Towards Son Ryan
RALPH RECTO – The Finance Secretary jokingly threatened his son, Batangas Rep. Ryan Recto, that he will run against him if he asks more questions.
During the 2025 Midterm Elections, both sons of now-Batangas Governor Vilma Santos — Luis Manzano and Ryan Recto, ran for public office. The Star for All Seasons took the gubernatorial race and her running mate was her eldest son, Luis.
However, Luis Manzano failed in the vice gubernatorial race against then-outgoing Batangas Governor Hermilando “Dodo” Mandanas. As for the veteran actress’ son with Department of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, Ryan, he won as the congressman of the 6th District of Batangas.
Vilma Santos admitted that she was sad over the election loss of Luis Manzano. Meanwhile, the a-list TV host visibly took his election defeat positively. Recently, Finance Sec. Ralph Recto and his son, Batangas 6th District Rep. Ryan Recto, were in the same room for the budget talks.
During the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) briefing of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations, Batangas 6th District Rep. Ryan Recto lamented how the country missed to hit being an upper-middle income nation by just $26.
The younger Recto was interpellating the DBCC including his father, Finance Sec. Ralph Recto. Based on a report on Inquirer, he stressed that “it was a missed opportunity” for the nation to be an upper-middle income country with just a few dollars.
“Madam Chair, we’re still a lower-middle income country, we fall in the range of $1,136 to $4,495. It was a missed opportunity, we could have been classified as upper-middle income, we were only short by $26,” Rep. Recto said.
Based on the report, Finance Sec. Ralph Recto spoke and assured his son that the Philippines will meet the target of being an upper-middle income country this 2025. He also turned the atmosphere during the budget talks lighter by jokingly threating his son that he will run against him if he asks more questions.
“Don’t worry, we will catch up by this year. And if you still have a lot of questions to throw at me, I will run against you in our district,” the DOF Secretary told his son.
In his response, Batangas 6th District Rep. Ryan Recto assured the economic team of his belief that the Philippines is capable of achieving the target. He commended the economic team and the Marcos administration including his father — “The achievements you made are not easy, so congratulations,” he said.
With the kick off of the budget talks, Speaker Martin Romualdez assured that the House will really scrutinize the proposed 2026 budget to ensure that every Peso will benefit the Filipino people.