Alagang Angara

The Senate Committee on Finance is set to hold a hearing tomorrow on the economic stimulus and recovery bills to address the impacts of COVID-19 in the country.

Senator Sonny Angara, the chairman of the committee, said it is the intention of the Senate to work with the private sector, which has seen either a significant scaling down or a total shut down of their operations during the lockdowns, “to see how government can help reduce their hardship.”

Over the course of the lockdown imposed in Luzon and other parts of the country, work from home has become the new normal for offices that continue to function.

For many businesses and even the government service, Senator Sonny Angara sees the work from home arrangements continuing even after the lockdown is lifted or at least until a vaccine is found for COVID-19.

In some cases, businesses have also made adjustments to their operations because of the losses they have incurred over the lockdown period and this includes downsizing.

Senator Sonny Angara called on all the local government units in the projected path of Typhoon Ambo to activate its standard operating procedures during severe weather disturbances, but putting special emphasis on COVID-19 protocols this time around.

It’s been two years since he’s gone  and the world is sadly worse than he left it.

If he were alive today, he would be quarantined  because of his age. But his wisdom will be unfettered by physical restrictions, and his mind would roam far  and wide in  search for solutions. 

I would have loved him to be on my side,   offering his wise counsel as a statesman ,  and as a father comforting his son that our tough  Made-in-Aurora genes will triumph over the most nasty of diseases.

Senator Sonny Angara is seeking to amend Republic Act 11036 or the Mental Health Act to allow qualified individuals to immediately receive compensation benefits and other applicable financial assistance under the law.

During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health has become a critical issue for many people who find it difficult to seek help given the multitude of cases being handled by the overwhelmed health care system.

It has been close to one month since I recovered from COVID-19. But while preparing to donate my blood plasma for a second time, my doctors, after the results of the initial antibody test taken before donating, had me take another swab test, which registered positive.

My wife Tootsy has tested negative, which could be proof of what my doctors are positing that I am probably no longer infectious and that this latest positive result is probably picking up remnants of the virus. 

Senator Sonny Angara today asked for the grant of certain exceptions for senior citizens who have been stuck in their homes during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and could remain holed up for an extended period once the lockdown is lifted and the “new normal” kicks in.

The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has released the guidelines under a general community quarantine (GCQ), which includes allowing certain businesses to resume operations but requires individuals below 21 and those 60 years and above to stay at home.

On the possibility of passing a supplemental budget for COVID-19:

If a supplemental budget is needed I'm sure both houses of Congress will hear and pass that to authorize the President and the Executive branch to spend more or to realign from existing budgetary items. This is to meet the challenges posed by the virus which were unknown when we passed the 2020 budget and we acknowledge that the President may need some flexibility to react to future contingencies.

On the extension of the ECQ for another 15 days:

In order to contain the spread of COVID-19 faster, Senator Sonny Angara said the government must speed up the implementation of mass and random testing, particularly at the community level.

There are now 5,878 cases of COVID-19 in the country and the figure is expected to go up further as more tests are conducted by the Department of Health (DOH) and the local government units.

Angara aired his concern about how many COVID-19 cases are not being detected and are still spreading the virus at their communities.