By Sonny Angara During the recently-concluded International Trade Forum held in Taguig City, the Marcos Administration unveiled its Philippine Export Development Plan 2023 to 2028 (PEDP), a comprehensive strategy on how to grow our exports and make it at par with our neighboring countries and even the rest of the world. In launching the PEDP, …
Better Days
The heart and soul of education
By Sonny Angara Almost all of us are aware of the myriad of problems our education system is facing. Filipino students rank among the lowest in the world when it comes to reading comprehension, math and science. There is no question that we are faced with a learning crisis that if left unchecked could result …
Unleashing the full potential of tourism as a driver of growth
By Sonny Angara Since the economy opened up after the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism has been a key contributor to the growth of the Philippine economy. Based on official data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, tourism made up 6.2 percent of the economy as measured by gross domestic product. The tourism sector is also an important …
Strengthening our specialty care centers
By Sonny Angara Since assuming the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Finance in 2019, we have been committed towards strengthening our public health care system. Providing access to quality health care to all, particularly to our disadvantaged countrymen, is one of the most important responsibilities of government. Every year when we tackle the proposed …
Bringing higher education to a higher level
By Sonny Angara In the current deliberations on the proposed amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution, one of the overarching themes has been the need for the country to catch up with the rest of the world. For a time, the Philippines was far ahead of many of its Southeast Asian …
Uniting to solve the education crisis
By Sonny Angara By the end of this month, a new school year will officially start. Using the numbers recorded last year for SY 2023-2024, we can reasonably expect that more or less 27 million learners will be enrolling in the basic education system this time around — 23.2 million in public schools, 3.7 …
Addressing the gaps on gov’t procurement
bettBy Sonny Angara More than 20 years have passed since Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) was enacted into law. Introduced by my father, the former Senate President Edgardo Angara, the GPRA was considered a world-class, landmark law for putting in place strong mechanisms to curb corruption in government procurement. …
Using technology for good
By Sonny Angara The Philippine National Police reported a rise in cybercrime cases during the first quarter of 2024. According to the police’s Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG), there were 4,469 cases recorded from January to March of 2024. This was an increase of almost 22 percent from the 3,668 cases over the same period in 2023. …
Celebrating 50 years of the National Nutrition Month
By Sonny Angara The year 2024 marks the 50th year of Nutrition Month is being celebrated in the Philippines. It was in 1974, during the administration of then President Ferdinand Marcos that the celebration of Nutrition Month started by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 491, s. 1974, which also paved the way for the creation …
Supporting the growth of the creatives sector
By Sonny Angara The Pulitzer Prizes are considered among the most prestigious, if not the most prestigious awards for the fields of journalism, books, drama, and music. This year we saw three Filipinas who were among the finalists of the Pulitzer for journalism: New York Times contributor Hannah Reyes Morales for feature photography; and …