EdAngara.com - The Official Website of Senator Edgardo J. Angara

by Senator Edgardo J. Angara
Published on February 12, 2013, Business Mirror


Breakthroughs in science occur with so much regularity and at such massive scale, our knowledge of our world and the universe is richer today than it was a decade ago.

by Senator Edgardo J. Angara
Published on February 10, 2013, Manila Bulletin


Breakthroughs in science occur with so much regularity and in such massive scale, our knowledge of our world and the universe is richer today than it was a decade ago.

by Senator Edgardo J. Angara
Published on February 4, 2013, Manila Bulletin


This Saturday, we concluded the fifth biennial conference of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) with great success. About 500 delegates from more than 68 countries joined us, making the Manila conference the most well-attended in GOPAC’s 10-year history.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is one of the driving forces behind the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), which convenes its 5th Global Conference in Manila from January 30 to February 2, 2013.

UNDP and GOPAC have been partners for almost a decade, with the UNDP Bureau for the Arab States funding the launch of GOPAC’s regional arm, the Arabian Parliamentarians Against Corruption (ArPAC) in 2004.

H.E. President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, H.E. Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., GOPAC Chair Dr. Naser Al-Sane, Excellencies of the diplomatic corps, fellow parliamentarians, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen:

To begin, we express our profound gratitude to the country’s highest national political leaders —the President, the Vice President, the Senate President, and the Speaker of the House—for their unequivocal support to this fateful gathering.

President Aquino no less noted the unflattering tag our country once carried—the “Sick Man of Asia,” a nation that could not seem to sustain genuine economic takeoff, a country deeply mired in corruption and corrosive politics.

But things have been turning around. The world has taken notice of a purposeful and deliberate transformation. To us, this conference is a rare opportunity to showcase our progress, as well as our commitment to deal with one of the most compelling issues of our time.

For decades, the United Nations has strived to come up with a variety of small instruments to battle corruption,1 until in 2003 universal consensus emerged when the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) was signed and came into force in 2005.

The UNCAC became the first legally binding and internationally accepted anti-corruption instrument. The Philippines was among the first signatories of the UNCAC, and among the first in the ASEAN to ratify the treaty.

Prior to this, corruption was an indelicate word, a phenomenon rarely condemned, and even occasionally tolerated, internationally.

The times have dramatically changed since. In many places around the world, people have increasingly clamored for a better life, a better economy, a better government.

In one word, good governance is humanity’s shared aspiration.

Corruption in business today has taken on scale and sophistication of unforeseen destructive force. Powerful bankers manipulating and rigging interest rates (LIBOR) and giant investment houses knowingly selling in the international bond market toxic sub-prime mortgages to unsuspecting buyers have caused global recession and wrecked some economies.

We, parliamentarians, have a huge part to play. Unfortunately, the institution people perceive to be most affected by corruption is the political party. And to a certain extent, parliament.

By coming together, we demonstrate we are able to cleanse our own ranks and are not afraid to face the challenge. We are prepared to show the strong political will that is our strongest weapon against corruption. (30)

by Senator Edgardo J. Angara
Published on January 29, 2013, Business Mirror


In a couple of days, years of conception, planning, negotiation and hardwork will culminate in a momentous occasion right here in Manila—the 2013 Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) Conference.

This is a very big deal for the Philippines, given we’ve long been branded the “Sick Man of Asia,” the country deeply mired in corruption and personality-oriented politics.

The Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) officials and heads of partner agencies conduct a dry run and inspection of the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in preparation for the GOPAC 5th Global Conference on January 31 to February 2 with more than 400 foreign delegates from 86 countries and 300 local leaders, lawmakers and NGOs participating.

by Senator Edgardo J. Angara
Published on January 27, 2013, Manila Bulletin


In a couple of days, years of conception, planning, negotiation and hardwork will culminate in a momentous occasion right here in Manila—the 2013 Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) Conference.

This is a very big deal for the Philippines, given we’ve long been branded the “Sick Man of Asia,” the country deeply mired in corruption and personality-oriented politics.

On January 29, 2013, the who’s who of Philippine election agencies and organizations will gather for a momentous Roundtable Discussion on Electoral Reform, hosted by the Angara Centre for Law and Economics.

Senator Edgardo J. Angara called on the government to embark on “an overall greening” or cleanup of the country to reduce the high levels of pollution and to meet the challenges of urbanization and overconsumption of resources and energy.

Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, said this movement can be initiated through the creation of comprehensive environmental laws that will promote eco-efficient construction and environmentally sound technology (EST).