Alagang Angara

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara expressed deep sorrow over the passing of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) first vice chair and Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) chair Ghazali Jaafar, whom the lawmaker said was “determined to get the best deal for his constituents.”

The 75-year-old Jaafar reportedly died at around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, three days after confinement in Metro Davao Medical and Research Center in Davao City due to heart problems. 

“He was a voice of reason and a voice for peace and will surely be missed,” Angara said.

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara said the Philippine National Police should make it a priority to protect government critics, including the Catholic priests who came forward to reveal that they had been receiving death threats after criticizing President Duterte’s war on drugs.

“If anyone should be protected, it should be the critics of the government. This is to show that we are a democracy and we value freedom of speech and expression,” Angara said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara wants government regulators and Congress to look into the cause of the water shortage affecting parts of Metro Manila and Rizal province even as he called for long-term solutions to meet the country’s growing water demand.

This as Angara expressed concern over the ongoing water service interruptions across the concession area of Manila Water, causing inconvenience to many businesses and residents.

Government should roll out an “El Niño action plan” in food-growing areas in the country before the drought caused by the weather phenomenon unleashes its full brunt on farmers who are also grappling with low prices of rice and coconut. 

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara said the construction of the country’s first subway line and other key mass transit projects under the government’s centerpiece program “Build, Build, Build” should help restore public confidence in the local rail transit system, which has been under fire due to its poor and unreliable service.

Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara is calling on state institutions and the private sector to hire more qualified persons with disability (PWDs) amid continued disparities in their employment situation.

Angara reminded that Republic Act 10524 or An Act Expanding the Positions Reserved for PWDs requires government offices to reserve at least one percent of their total positions to PWDs. Under the law, corporations with more than 100 employees are encouraged to do the same.

Senator Sonny Angara said the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program called Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) ought to be institutionalized to give millions of poor Filipinos a better chance of escaping poverty.

It’s never too late to earn a college degree.

This was the advice of reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara to over 360,000 unemployed university dropouts, as well as high school graduates but did not proceed to college, as he urged them to return to school and take advantage of the government’s free tertiary education.

LUCENA CITY—Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara said the government should pay teachers more if it wants to improve the quality of education in Philippine public schools.

“Quality education begins with quality teachers. And to have good quality teachers in our public schools we need to pay them well,” Angara said, as he reiterated his appeal to the government to give teachers a reasonable pay increase. 

Aside from bigger and wider coverage of social pension, the country’s elderly population must be given employment opportunities to be productive even in their old age and keep them away from poverty, according to reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara.

Angara, a champion of the rights and welfare of senior citizens in the Senate, said many elderly people belonging to the age group 60 to 70 are still physically capable and are prepared to work and earn a living.