Alagang Angara

In order to provide quality medical care to more children, particularly those from families who cannot afford it, the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) was provided with more funds under the 2021 General Appropriations Act, Senator Sonny Angara said today.

Cognizant of the special needs of children who require medical attention, Angara has long been supportive of the operation of PCMC, a specialized hospital under the auspices of the Department of Health (DOH)

All of Congress saw the urgency of approving the 2021 national budget on time. We went through two reenacted budgets—one that lasted for four months in 2019 and the other for a few days in 2020. There is too much at stake in the 2021 budget. The economy is set to bounce back after a historic slump this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and any delay in the passage of the budget would be akin to throwing a monkey wrench in the recovery process.

2020 was one of the most challenging and difficult times in our history. The COVID-19 pandemic was totally unexpected and changed all of our lives. No one was spared. Then the storms came, in succession, battering several parts of Luzon and leaving our already struggling kababayans down on their knees. Rarely have our people been through so much hardship and suffering in such a short period of time.

Workers affected by the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to receive assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) next year as a result of the interventions made by Congress in the 2021 national budget.


Senator Sonny Angara, the Chairman of the Committee on Finance, said the members of Congress were all in agreement that the workers affected by the pandemic should continue to receive some form of assistance from the government in 2021 because many of them are still without jobs.

Senator Sonny Angara said the country should begin to experience better internet connectivity even in remote and inaccessible areas once the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) completes the first phase of its National Broadband Program (NBP).

Under the P4.5 trillion General Appropriations Bill that was ratified last Wednesday by Congress, Angara noted that the DICT’s budget for the NBP was doubled from the proposed P902.194 million in the National Expenditure Program to P1.9 billion.

Apart from ensuring the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Sonny Angara said today the P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021 also provides funding for several new laws that have far-reaching impacts on the lives of Filipinos.

Angara, the chairman of the Committee on Finance that went over the budget measure, said the first priority for the 2021 national budget was clearly COVID response and Congress made sure there will be sufficient funding to cover for items such as the purchase of vaccines, testing, contact tracing and treatment.

In order for the economy to rebound from its dismal growth in 2020, Senator Sonny Angara said the efforts to strengthen the country’s health responses should continue as a first step.

The economy contracted by 11.5% in the third quarter of this year based on the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Household consumption remained down, contracting by 9.3% in the third quarter, with the biggest declines coming from recreation and culture, restaurants and hotels and transportation.

Senator Sonny Angara is pushing for the establishment of hospitals within state universities and colleges (SUC) as a way to help fortify the country’s health system.

When the country experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, the entire nation was confronted with the reality that there were not enough hospital beds to cater to the patients and that more doctors and other medical personnel are needed to treat them.

Now that students have to deal distance and blended learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Sonny Angara said today that public libraries and barangay reading centers should be utilized to assist them in coping with the new challenges in education.

Because face-to-face learning is discouraged as part of the precautionary measures in place to prevent the spread of the virus, students and teachers alike were forced to adjust to the blended and distance learning methods, which have been in most part, difficult for everyone concerned.

We thank the House of Representatives and Speaker Lord Allan Velasco for making good on their commitment to send the 2021 General Appropriations Bill to the Senate by October 28. This gives us time to go over the amendments made to the NEP as we start drafting the committee report on the budget measure. We also thank our vice chairpersons and members of the Senate for submitting inputs on what should be in the committee report. We await the submissions of our Finance Committee vice chairpersons who are in the process of completing their respective reports.