Senator Sonny Angara is looking forward to hearing the administration’s plans for all the sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in President Rodrigo Duterte’s fifth State of the Nation Address this coming Monday.
With no end in sight with regard to the pandemic, Angara said it would be interesting to hear the government’s roadmap for the rest of the year and the year ahead.
Senator Sonny Angara is pushing for the inclusion of pandemics, epidemics and other health emergencies in the subjects for primary and secondary schools in the country.
Angara noted that the experience of the Philippines with the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on the behavior of many Filipinos in spite of the dangers on their health, leaves a lot to be desired.
Angara pushes for the registration and database of informal workers
To provide protection to the informal workers and to ensure they receive aid from the government in times of emergencies, Senator Sonny Angara is calling for the creation of a national database of all members of the informal economy.
--Launches plasmangpagasa.com to connect donors with hospitals
With a lot of businesses now shifting to the online and digital platforms under the new normal, Senator Sonny Angara called on the different agencies of government to work together in preparing the Filipino workforce for the skills needed to secure these jobs.
A strong advocate of digital skills development for Filipinos, Angara said the global economy is rapidly changing and as a result, a lot of the traditional jobs are disappearing and new jobs are emerging that require, at the very least, some basic technological know-how.
Senator Sonny Angara called for the establishment of more mega quarantine facilities in Region 7, especially in Cebu as the number of cases continue to rise in the various provinces in Central Visayas.
As of June 28, 2020, Region 7 has breached the 8,000 mark on the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with Cebu City accounting for 4,962 of these.
A total of 252 COVID-19 deaths have also been recorded, with 157 of these from Cebu City.
To help the tourism industry in recovering from the lockdowns imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Sonny Angara said the government should seriously consider establishing travel bubbles with select countries in order to bring some life back into this very important sector of the country.
To help the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who were repatriated after losing their jobs abroad, Senator Sonny Angara reminded the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to fulfill its mandate of providing them with low-interest loans, which they can use to setting up their lives again here in the country.
Alarmed by reports of a growing number of individuals abusing the discounts granted to persons with disabilities (PWD) under the law, Senator Sonny Angara is calling for an inquiry into the proliferation of “fake” PWD identification cards.
As one of the authors and sponsor of Republic Act 10754 or the law expanding the benefits and privileges of PWDs, Angara said there is a need to review the process for the issuance of the PWD ID cards now that there seems to be a growing number of people who have acquired these cards through fraudulent means.
