Edgardo Angara laid to rest; Sonny vows to continue father’s legacy

FILE: Former Senate chief Edgardo Angara was finally laid to rest in his hometown in Baler, Aurora on Tuesday, May 22. (Photo courtesy of University of the Philippines/PNA)

Former Senate chief Edgardo Angara was finally laid to rest in his hometown in Baler, Aurora on Tuesday, May 22.

In a mass, before his remains were brought to Barangay Reserva where his ancestral compound is located, Angara’s family members, relatives, former colleagues, and close friends paid their last respect to the former Senate President.

Among those who joined mourners at the burial were Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators Joseph Victor Ejercito and Richard Gordon, and Taguig Representative Pia Cayetano.

Angara, who served as senator from 1987 to 1995 and from 2001 to 2013, died from a heart attack on May 13 at the age of 83.

The former senator’s son, Sonny, said that he is “truly proud” of his father’s achievements, saying that his legacy must continue particularly in the field of education and health.

“My father was a true champion of the people’s right to education and all his advocacies as a politician and educator are all worth pursuing,” he said.

The late senator pushed for the law which established the Commission on Higher Education(CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Among his landmark measures were the Senior Citizens Act, the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers and the National Health Insurance Act that created the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

He also authored the Free High School Act, which ensured secondary education to serve especially the poorest, and the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE)– touted as the government’s biggest scholarship program.

Sonny said that he was pleased that he and his father have the same view that “education is the great socioeconomic equalizer and a powerful tool to break the cycle of poverty.”

“That is why we are pushing for a passage of a bill that would institutionalize the grant of student fare discounts in land, air and sea transport even on weekends, holidays and semestral breaks,” the senator said.

The younger Angara, as a three-term congressman and first-term senator, has pushed for laws to widen access to education through the passage of the Free College Law as well as the Unified Student Financial Assistance System Act (UNIFAST)to make sure that scholarships will be granted to poor and deserving students.

Currently, Sonny is strongly pushing for the expansion of the Universal Healthcare Law to cover free check-ups and laboratory tests.