Alagang Angara

Senator Sonny Angara called on the concerned government agencies to immediately clarify the reports about mall closures during the one month community quarantine period for Metro Manila considering the impact this will have on hundreds of thousands of employees.

“While we understand the need to act swiftly and decisively when it comes to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the country, we should also consider the impacts of these actions on the public, particularly those who rely on daily wages to make ends meet,” Angara said.

Even as the Department of Education (DepEd) is deliberating on the use of the sablay as the standard garb for graduation rites, Senator Sonny Angara encouraged more schools to adopt this as a means to promote Filipino heritage and for practical purposes.

Angara said local government units around the country could take their cue from the Pasig City government and already use the sablay for the graduation ceremonies of their public elementary and high schools.

Now is the time to be careful and vigilant but don’t panic because there is no reason to do so.

Senator Sonny Angara said the “first local transmission” of the COVID-19 in the country did not come as too much of a surprise considering the number of people traveling in and out of the country regularly.

“What is important is that we are able to identify these cases, treat the infected and take all the necessary steps to prevent the disease from spreading,” Angara said.

With the announcement made by Philippine Airlines (PAL) that it has laid off 300 of its personnel, the government cannot afford to be complacent in addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 on the economy, Senator Sonny Angara said today.

“We have been spared from deaths caused by COVID-19 but sadly the pandemic has taken away the jobs of 300 hardworking men and women of our country's flag carrier,” Angara said. 

Government was told to urgently craft a “resilience plan” that will allow the economy “to deftly evade” the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic and the shutdown of plants and back offices of Honda, Wells Fargo and other multinationals in the country.

The call was made by Sen. Sonny Angara as the Senate finance committee opens a series of hearings that will draw a roadmap to create world-class products and services that will proudly bear the “Tatak Pinoy” brand.

The Senate Committee on Finance is set to hold an inquiry tomorrow on the implementation of the government’s programs on industrialization and employment-generation to determine what these have accomplished so far, which ones are working and the next steps needed to ensure its sustainability.

Senator Sonny Angara is pushing for a review of the various programs for the country’s youth to see if these have been effective and to determine the next steps needed to further empower this sector of society.

As the chairman of the Committee on Youth, Angara filed Senate Resolution No. 320 to evaluate the efficacy of all existing government programs for the country’s youth “so that we’ll have an idea which one’s are working and relevant and which are not.”

The government is stepping up efforts to improve the quality of products and services produced in the country in order to boost demand, not only domestically, but globally with an unprecedented increase in the budget of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2020.

Senator Sonny Angara has filed a bill to increase the bed capacity of the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City from the current 600 to 1,000.

A tertiary hospital under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health, the EAMC is constantly operating at overcapacity so in order to accommodate more patients in need of medical attention, Angara said there is an urgent need to increase its bed capacity.

The last time the EAMC was able to increase its bed capacity was in 1997 when Congress passed Republic Act 8345, which added 250 beds to its then 350-bed capacity.

Now that the alert level for Taal Volcano has been lowered from four to three, Senator Sonny Angara urged all the concerned government agencies to immediately conduct an assessment of the damage brought about by the eruption two weeks ago.