Alagang Angara

Yesterday’s Batanes earthquake presents three challenges, which should be addressed during the debates on the bill creating a Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR), its author, Senator Sonny Angara, pointed out today. 

“One is the creation of our national fleet of disaster response ships. It is a must in an archipelagic country like ours,” Angara said.  

“Hindi lang para dun sa mga isla.  Kahit doon sa may airport at naaabot ng kalsada. But when airports are damaged and roads are blocked the only way to bringing help to victims is by sea, Angara said. 

We welcome the enactment of Republic Act 11346 or the increase in the excise tax on tobacco products. We worked on passing this measure as the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the previous Congress with the goal of generating additional revenues to help fund the gap for the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act. 

Newly-designated Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance Senator Sonny Angara said his panel’s scrutiny of the proposed 2020 national budget will be “thorough, transparent, truthful and we will pass it on time.”

Angara said the goal is to have the proposed 2020 budget, which is expected to be sent over by Malacañang to both houses of Congress in the next few weeks, on the desk of the President for signing before the end of the year.

Okay naman yung mga hugot lines ng Presidente lalu na ang tungkol sa corruption.

Tulad niya, frustrated na din tayo sa patuloy na corruption sa gobyerno.

Nagpapasalamat tayo na binanggit ni Pangulong Duterte ang pagtaas sa sweldo ng ating mga guro. Ito ay ating isinusulong dahil matagal na nila itong hinihintay.

Napapanahon din yung panawagan niya na ipasa ang Magna Carta for Barangays at ang pagtayo ng isang National High School for Sports, at ng Department of Disaster Resilience, tatlong panukala na kasama sa unang 20 na priority bills natin.

One solid win by Pacman, one giant celebration for his countrymen.

This vintage Pacquiao win shows why his people love him to the moon and back. 

By Monday, my friend and colleague will step again into the Senate ring to join the fight against our  ancient enemies – hunger, joblessness, poverty.  

Expect him to the bring the same spunk he had shown in boxing to this unfinished  fight of his life. (30)

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.