Alagang Angara

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara is urging the families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Libya to convince their loved ones to return to the Philippines as soon as possible after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) raised to the highest level the crisis alert in the North African state due to intense fighting around the capital city of Tripoli.

The DFA declared Alert Level 4, which requires mandatory repatriation and a total ban on OFW deployment to Libya, where more than 3,500 Filipinos are currently employed.

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara is encouraging Filipinos here and abroad to learn more about their history and culture by visiting heritage sites and cultural centers in Philippine embassies during the celebration of the National Heritage Month in May.

“Heritage is about the things from the past which are valued enough today to save for tomorrow,” said Angara, who co-authored Republic Act 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, along with his father, the late Senate President Edgardo Angara. 

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara is calling on President Duterte to sign into law a measure that would exempt an estimated 1.3 million first-time jobseekers from paying fees on government-issued documents in connection with their job application.

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara has called for a more aggressive immunization campaign to ensure that life-saving vaccines reach as many Filipino children as possible.

“We need to be more aggressive in ensuring that every Filipino child receives vaccines to protect them against preventable illnesses. We have to make sure that our immunization program reaches even the hardest to reach child,” Angara said.

To foster a culture of preparedness among Filipinos, reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara renewed his call to make disaster risk education mandatory in the curriculum of primary schools to improve the young learners’ understanding of preparedness and response, as well as hone their readiness in dealing with natural calamities.

“Since we live in a country where earthquakes and typhoons are very common, it is imperative that every Filipino is equipped with the basic understanding and knowledge of disaster preparedness and response,” Angara said.

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara wants local government units (LGUs) to spend their local disaster funds wisely by prioritizing disaster planning and risk management, saying such move is more proactive and cost-effective in terms of disaster response.

“It is always better to be prepared than hope for the best and deal with the consequences after disaster strikes,” said Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government. “LGUs should not hesitate to spend their calamity funds for disaster preparedness.”

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara said the country needs a strong and empowered institution capable of responding to the new normal of natural disasters and climate change, as he pushed for the immediate passage of a bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake jolted parts of Luzon that killed at least eight people and injured others, and damaged critical infrastructures.

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara urged Filipinos to make a conscious effort to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle as the Philippines joins the rest of the world in celebrating Earth Day on April 22.

(file photo: Senator Sonny Angara with kababayans in Saipan)

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara is looking forward to having more social welfare attachés (SWAs) in Philippine embassies and consulates, especially in countries with high concentration of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), once the bill seeking to institutionalize their deployment abroad is signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara said education is a powerful tool to make the youth enablers of transformation and turn the country into an economic powerhouse where jobs abound and social services are accessible to all.

Data from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as of 2018 showed that the Philippines has the third youngest people among the 700 million youth in the Asia Pacific region, of which about 30 percent are below 15 years old. The median age in the country is 26.