Angara vows to carry on father’s legacy

Oath Taking as a new lawyer, Sen. Ed Angara, Sen. Sonny Angara and Mrs. Gloria Angara

MANILA, Philippines — Reelectionist Sen. Sonny Angara on Thursday said he was determined to carry forward the central principles of his father in the legislature.

“Throughout his life, my father espoused two principles: hard work and generosity,” Angara said, noting that these principles support the late Sen. Edgardo Angara’s Free High School Act.

Main advocacies

“Education and health were my father’s main advocacies as a legislator,” he said, describing the elder Angara as “the author and main sponsor of the laws dividing governance over the education system into three main agencies—the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority—as well as the law establishing PhilHealth. So I think he’d be very pleased with the recent enactment of the Free College Tuition Act and the Universal Healthcare Act.”

Lasting strategy

Angara also believes that a redistribution of the country’s wealth has to be a chief national concern.

“We want more of our people to benefit from the significant economic growth that we’ve been registering in the past decade,” he said, adding that a more lasting strategy to sustain growth would have to involve jobs creation in areas such as manufacturing, services and agriculture.  /muf