Senator Edgardo Angara has said that the future of the Philippines, as globalization has become more of a daily reality for every Filipino, lies in the quality and strength of Philippine education. Angara, whose son, Sonny Angara, is seeking a senatorial seat in the May 2013 elections, wants his legacy on educational reforms instituted in the country continued by his son once the senator completes his 24-year service as legislator in the Senate. “Modesty aside, Sonny is the most qualified candidate for senator,” the former University of the Philippines (UP) President said during a press conference held at Coralandia and facilitated by Marlito Uy of Island City Mall and Alturas fame. Sen. Angara revealed that Sonny possesses excellent academic credentials, being a graduate from the London School of Economics and Harvard University, aside from the fact that he is an incumbent legislator in the country representing a district in Aurora province.

Both the son and the father envision a Philippines that is ripe for world-class education, an essential requirement to land a top-paying job in this globalized job market. “Education is the key to national development,” said Angara who is one of the ardent supporters of the new K+12 educational system. “ The senator supports the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction and he bats for the move to institutionalize the day care centers in the country. “The Philippines was the bastion of education three decades ago,” Angara recalled, “and many Asians came to our country to study.” “We need to improve the quality of our education and enhance our curriculum by removing non-essential subjects in college,” Angara stressed. “We need to strengthen math and science as the world has become increasingly competitive.” One enduring legacy that Angara has done for Philippine education is the establishment of Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASPE) which has an annual budget of P10 Billion ready for disbursements to Filipinos who want to study in private colleges all over the country. “Aside from radical change in education, we need to expand our scholarship program,” Angara noted. “All my life I’ve been doing educational reform,” he added.

He lamented that the educational woes in the country are largely due to the so-called “shared bureaucratic neglect” as shown in the suicide of one UP-Manila student who became grief-stricken after she failed to settle her tuition fees in a rather government-owned university. “Release of scholarship funds must be done quickly,” Angara said, adding that the government needs to pour more funds for scholarships and improvement of educational infrastructures. “In two years time, the country will become part of one big Asean community. This is an Asean-integrated community where Filipinos can study, live, and work freely in Southeast Asian countries in the same way that Asean nationals would come and work in the Philippines,” Angara reported. He said the Asean-integrated community should compel the government to improve its educational system as job-hiring would become more competitive.

ANGARA, THE SON, AS SENATORIAL CANDIDATE

Meanwhile, the official profile of Sonny Angara reveals the following facts of the senator’s son: is not just another politician’s son making his way into politics. The three-term lawmaker representing the province of Aurora was named one of the country’s The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) in 2010, a prestigious award given to accomplished and promising Filipinos under 40 years old. Sonny was born on July 15, 1972, the second child of Senator Edgardo J. Angara and Gloria Manalang Angara. He finished his elementary and high school studies at the Xavier School, then left to study at the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science. In 1994, he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and International Relations, graduating with honors. Sonny returned to the country to study law at the University of the Philippines, just like his father. Afterward, he went to the Harvard Law School where he obtained a Master of Laws degree in 2003. He became a delegate of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in 1994, and was once a business reporter for the Philippine Star. After passing the bar, Sonny worked as an Associate Attorney for litigation at ACCRA Law from 2001 to 2003.