Alagang Angara

President Duterte’s 4th State of the Nation Address on Monday should spell out the  “second half game plan” of his administration, “and the things he wants the nation to achieve in the last 1,000 days” of his six-year term, Sen. Sonny Angara said.   

“I think that is what the people will be looking for in his speech. For him to state the vision, set the target and explain to us how to get there,” Angara said. 

“It would be better if it is a goal-setting speech. More looking forward than looking back. Ilista nya ang urgent things to do,” he added. 

The President has been generally successful in fulfilling his promise to rid the country of the scourge of illegal drugs and this can be seen in the people’s perception on how he is doing on this front based on the surveys. Peace and order was the thrust of the first half of his term in office. Now it is time to build on his legacy.

Recognizing that tuition and other school fees are only part of the myriad of expenses incurred by families for their children, Senator Sonny Angara has called for the grant of discounts on basic services such as food, medicine and school supplies for underprivileged students.

“The Free Tuition Law has gone a long way in easing the burden of families for the education of their children. But for most families, there are still a lot of out-of-pocket expenses that they have to cope with and for them, every peso counts,” Angara said

Matagal na hinihintay ng ating mga estudyante ang batas na magbibigay ng 20 porsyento na diskwento sa pamasahe.

Una kong isinulong ang Student Fare Discount bill noong 2007, sa pangalawang termino ko bilang kongresista. Noon pa man, nais na natin mabigyan ng pribiliheyong ito ang ating mga estudyante dahil ang pamasahe ang isa sa pinaka malaking gastusin para sa kanila.

Araw araw ay bumibyahe ang mahigit sa 30 milyon na estudyante mula sa elementarya hanggang sa kolehiyo kaya napakalaking bagay ang pagpasa ng batas na ito para sa kanila at sa mga pamilya nila.

Barangay officials and employees are the nation’s frontline workers and yet what they are receiving is not commensurate to the roles that they play.

Senator Sonny Angara said the barangays should be given more attention by the national government as the country’s basic political unit and as the base of the economy.

“Tuwing may problema, ang barangay ang unang tinatakbuhan ng tao para humingi ng tulong. Sila ang unang rumeresponde sa mga krisis pero sila ang huli lagi pagdating sa mga benepisyo,” Angara said.

The government should be more aggressive in coming up with ways to keep its citizens in the country if it wants to compete with the rest of the world.

Senator Sonny Angara says keeping homegrown Filipino talents at home is the key to improving competitiveness and in order to be successful in this effort, all of government should be involved.

For most individuals, hitting the age of 60 means enjoying the rest of your life, free from work and stress. But not everyone is so lucky.

Citing a study by the Coalition of Services of the Elderly, Sen. Sonny Angara noted that more than half of the country’s senior citizens do not receive any form of pension, a reality that he said is sad but not hopeless.

“They took care of us when we were young, made several sacrifices to provide for our needs and when they reach their twilight years, many are left to fend for themselves,” Angara said.

Discrimination, in any shape or form, has no place in Philippine society.

While the Philippines has come a long way in terms of being an open and equitable society, Sen. Sonny Angara said there is still a lot more to be done to totally eliminate all forms of discrimination in the country.

Before Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act is implemented in full, we must make sure that the funds allocated for this purpose are being spent properly, according to Sen. Sonny Angara, who noted with dismay the various scams hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

As one of the authors of the UHC, Angara fumed at recent reports of how a dialysis center was making fraudulent claims from PhilHealth for patients suffering from kidney disease.

Hindi lang libreng tuition, libreng Wi-Fi din.

Sen. Sonny Angara is urging newly-appointed Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Gregorio Honasan to fast-track the setting up of free internet in the country’s state universities and colleges (SUC), a program which has been plagued by delays. 

Out of the country’s 112 SUCs, only 17 have been installed free Wi-Fi hotspots as of December 2018, based on DICT data submitted to the Senate during the hearings for the 2019 national budget.