About the Author

Ralph "KoRecto" Gonzalez Recto was elected Senator in the 2001 election and served till June 30, 2007. [1] He graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1991, holding masters in Public administration. He has two Master's Degrees – one in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines, Diliman and another in Strategic Business Economics from the University of Asia and the Pacific. He also took up a Leadership Scholarship Course at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He acquired a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at the De La Salle University-Manila.

He holds the distinction of being the youngest elected member of the House of Representatives during the 9th Congress. A feat he replicated when he became the youngest Senator of the 12th Congress at the age of 37. He also holds an unprecedented record in the congressional election history of Batangas for winning in all precincts, barangays, and municipalities together with Lipa City in the 1995 and 1998 elections. Moreover, he garnered 98% of the votes cast in those two elections in the 4th District of Batangas.

From 1992 to 2001 majority of his legislative measures, as a member of the House of Representatives, address poverty alleviation and deal with economic reforms. Some of his legislative measures related to taxation that have grave impact on inflation rates are Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act; the Philippine Economic Zone Law; Amendment to the Special Economic Zone Law; the Retail Trade Liberalization Law; Regional Headquarters Law and the Comprehensive Tax Reform Law. However, he is most famous for authoring the Extended Value Added Tax Law, making him known as "The Father of EVAT" to many Filipinos.

In the Senate, he chaired the Committees on Ways and Means and on Trade and Industry. He is married to Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto, father to Ryan Christian and stepfather to Luis Philippe Manzano.[2]

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[1] Senator Ralph G. Recto - Senate of the Philippines. www.senate.gov.ph/senators/sen_bio/recto_bio. asp.

[2]Ralph Recto-wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Recto. Accessed August 15, 2007