Senator Edgardo J. Angara
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Senator Edgardo J. Angara, the longest serving senator in the post-EDSA Senate, began his political career when he was elected as one of the youngest delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention.
A year later he founded what would become one of the country's top law firms known by the acronym ACCRA. Honing his skills while practicing, Angara was eventually elected as president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in 1979, an indication of his rise to prominence in the legal profession.
In recognition of his internationalist views and pragmatism, he was chosen in 1981 as founding president of the ASEAN Law Association, an organization that seeks to harmonize laws in the ASEAN and promote a common focus on key issues and policies.
But it was his tenure as president of UP from 1981-1987 where he made his mark after gaining the respect of students and faculty for his professionalism and determination to make the state university attain its true status as the premiere educational center in the country.
He rallied alumni in the country and abroad to pool their resources for various projects to mark UP's diamond jubilee in 1983, including the creation of additional professorial chairs and faculty grants. Through his efforts, the liberal arts curriculum was strengthened, a seven-year honors medical curriculum installed, humanities and science were energized, and a multi-campus university organization was instituted.
He defended the state university's tradition of dissent and fiscal autonomy, while maintaining its reputation for academic excellence. He established stronger links with the business community and alumni organizations, raising the biggest faculty endowment in the university. It came as no surprise then that despite being a political neophyte in the 1987 senatorial elections, he placed in the top five.
By this time, he had established a reputation as a resolute reformer and firm leader, winning praise for his non-confrontational stance on contentious domestic and international issues, while building consensus at the same time.
The same reputation enabled him as Senate President (1993-1995) and as senator (1987-1998, 2001-present) to get through the legislative gridlock that stood between the Legislative and Executive branches of government. He made a difference in the lives of millions of Filipinos by pushing for the passage of laws on arts and culture, agriculture, education, good governance, health and social welfare.
As chairman of the Congressional Commission on Education, Angara sponsored laws that resulted in the creation of the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skill Development Authority, both of which enabled the Department of Education to focus on its main concern – basic education.
He authored the Free High School Act that ensured secondary education even for the poorest; the Senior Citizens Act (or The Angara Law) that allowed the elderly to avail of substantial discounts when buying medicine or riding public transport; the National Health Insurance Act, or PHILHEALTH, that provided insurance to every citizen; and the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE), the biggest scholarship program.
Under his Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA), farmers and fisher folk benefited from improved seeds and plant materials, better irrigation, better financing and market access.
He authored the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers and was the principal author of the laws that created the new National Museum and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts.
As Philippine National Bank chairman (1998-1999), he made the bank a major player in the domestic financial market.
During his term as Secretary of Agriculture (1999-2001), he had the opportunity to implement his own creation, AFMA. He oversaw an improvement of food production programs and support services that led to a bigger harvest of rice, a development that underscored the drive to attain food security. Overall, the agricultural sector saw a growth rate of 3.6 percent a year since 2000, compared with a 1.2 percent growth over the past two decades.
He served as executive secretary (2001), albeit briefly, during the presidency of Joseph Estrada, and oversaw the peaceful transition of power after the second people power revolution.
A recipient of the Commandeur dans l'ordre des Palmes citation from France, Angara has been a director of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption since 2002.
Senator Edgardo J. Angara
As a further testament to his international experience, he was elected in 2005 as charter president of the Southeast Asia Parliamentarians Against Corruption. Not coincidentally, Angara was the author of the Procurement Reform Act, the biggest anti-corruption law in Philippine history, as well as the father of the Ombudsman Law.
Angara's record shows an anthology of feats and achievements. Last Congress, he pushed for the creation of the Congressional Commission on Science, Techonology and Engineering Research and Development. COMSTE will study the root of the country's waning competitiveness and lay down the grounds for improvement and innovation.
This 14th Congress, he serves as chairman of the Senate Committees on Agriculture and Food; Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies; and Science and Technology.
Today, he is overseeing a number of important legislative measures. Under social services, he filed the Senior Citizens Financial Assistance Act that will provide a monthly pension and loan to poor senior citizens; Child Nutrition Act of the Philippines that will institutionalize the School Feeding Program throughout public elementary schools in the country; Child Health Insurance Program to cater to the health needs of children from poor families; and the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) which will supplement the existing government-sponsored pension scheme by setting up a privately funded retirement fund. Among the education bills are the Students Loans and Grants Program Act that aims to institutionalize loans and grants to students.
Financial reform through pioneering laws like the Real Estate Investment Act, Credit Information Bureau Systems Act and Corporate Recovery Act are on the Senator's agenda, as well as laws on cultural heritage and environmental protection.
As Nick Joaquin, the Grand Old Man of Philippine Literature and the greatest Filipino writer of the 20th century wrote, "If clothes make the man, laws make the solon, for his product describes the lawmaker."
On that rule it can be said of Senator Edgardo Angara that he has range and relevance: his attention is wide-ranging, his relevance instantaneous.
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