Alagang Angara

For most individuals, hitting the age of 60 means enjoying the rest of your life, free from work and stress. But not everyone is so lucky.

Citing a study by the Coalition of Services of the Elderly, Sen. Sonny Angara noted that more than half of the country’s senior citizens do not receive any form of pension, a reality that he said is sad but not hopeless.

“They took care of us when we were young, made several sacrifices to provide for our needs and when they reach their twilight years, many are left to fend for themselves,” Angara said.

Before Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act is implemented in full, we must make sure that the funds allocated for this purpose are being spent properly, according to Sen. Sonny Angara, who noted with dismay the various scams hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

As one of the authors of the UHC, Angara fumed at recent reports of how a dialysis center was making fraudulent claims from PhilHealth for patients suffering from kidney disease.

Hindi lang libreng tuition, libreng Wi-Fi din.

Sen. Sonny Angara is urging newly-appointed Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Gregorio Honasan to fast-track the setting up of free internet in the country’s state universities and colleges (SUC), a program which has been plagued by delays. 

Out of the country’s 112 SUCs, only 17 have been installed free Wi-Fi hotspots as of December 2018, based on DICT data submitted to the Senate during the hearings for the 2019 national budget.

Senators will start filing their bills tomorrow, providing President Duterte “with a deep pool of measures he can support and ask Congress to immediately pass when he delivers the State of the Nation Address later this month,” reelected Sen. Sonny Angara said today. 

Angara urged Malacanang to choose what Senate proposals to officially back “so we can start the legislative year with a common agenda .“

Sen. Sonny Angara today filed a bill increasing the salaries of public school teachers, a move  that dovetails with President Duterte’s promise to the country's 800,000 public mentors that it will be their turn to get a salary increase following the one given to soldiers and policemen. 

In his bill, Angara  proposed that the present Salary Grade (SG) 11 of entry-level teachers be increased to SG 19. 

Senator Sonny Angara has called on the government to make sure that all those involved in the “ghost” dialysis scandal hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will not go unpunished.

“We need some punitive measures—we need to punish those who are guilty—as well as preventive measures para hindi na maulit,” Angara said in an interview with CNN Philippines’ The Source.

Senator Sonny Angara assured that tobacco farmers will continue to benefit from the incremental revenues from higher excise tax to be imposed on tobacco products starting next year.

Angara said the new tobacco excise tax bill approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives provides that up to 20 percent of the incremental revenues from the additional duties will go directly to 23 tobacco producing provinces to finance programs that will provide support for tobacco farmers and workers.

Senator Sonny Angara said the government will be in a better position to fill the massive funding gap for the universal health care (UHC) program with the passage of the bill increasing the excise tax on tobacco products.

“With the approval by both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the bill seeking higher tobacco excise taxes, we have come one step closer to giving the government more elbow room to plug the funding gap for the UHC program that aims to provide all Filipinos with affordable and quality health care,” Angara said.

Tribute

EDGARDO J. ANGARA
(24 September 1934–13 May 2018)
Statesman, Educator, and Institution Builder

Ma. Cynthia Rose Banzon Bautista

Sponsored by Senator Sonny Angara, Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Government. 

Sorted according to date.