BETTER DAYS
Senator Sonny Angara
When my late father former Senator Edgardo J. Angara retired from public service in 2013, he said something worth remembering during these times: “Good politics is also marked by close collaboration between the branches of government.” He was talking about his time as Senate President under the Ramos administration, where he challenged his colleagues in Congress, and the Executive, to set aside discord and cooperate on a legislative agenda that was needed for the country’s economic recovery. During the 1992 elections, my father had supported another candidate, his partymate Ramon Mitra. This non-alignment notwithstanding, under my father’s watch, the Senate was able to pass up to 500 laws, 130 of which were reform measures in support of the Ramos administration’s drive to rebuild the country.
By my father’s example, we see how one’s choice of presidential candidate need not prevent one from helping the country. There are now murmurings on social media about people refusing to donate during natural calamities or to anybody in need because these communities had generally voted in a certain direction. That’s not a path any of us should be taking.
Unity need not mean that we are all of the same political persuasion. Or that we cannot critique whoever is in power. It should mean that we are all working to achieve the same goal and vision for the country. As my father said in his valedictory speech from the Senate: “A fiscalizing force is necessary for a healthy balance of power, and that obstructionism for the sole sake of opposition is self-serving.”
Now that the voting is over and the incoming administration has a resounding mandate, there is a need to drop campaign lines, fly our country’s flag, and coalesce over issues that need to be solved and reforms that we want to push forward. And we will need to come together because the new administration cannot face by itself the country’s immense challenges.
For instance, many Filipinos have yet to be vaccinated (including senior citizens and children below five years old), while only a small percentage of those with complete jabs (68 million) have gotten the necessary boosters (13.5 million). The supply may be there, but we’ll still need to come together to ensure that vaccines reach our “last mile” communities.
Meanwhile, the pandemic revealed just how fragmented and fractured our health system is. The incoming administration will need to bridge the many resource gaps in our healthcare system. But the rest of us cannot afford to sit idly by when around 50 percent of the population live far from the nearest hospital or health center.
Unemployment also skyrocketed during the pandemic. While it has since gone down with the economy’s reopening, some 2.87 million Filipinos are still unable to make a living as of March 2022. Couple this with high living costs and the result is widespread hunger and poverty. The incoming administration could be inheriting an economy where nearly one out of four Filipinos (23.7 percent) is considered poor. These numbers wouldn’t be as high if well-paying job opportunities were widely available. The irony is that in many sectors, job openings remain unfilled. One estimate even found that up to 2.4 million quality jobs would be without takers if deep reforms aren’t made in the way we skill, upskill, and reskill our people.
Which brings us to an even bigger plague on our country — poor quality education. International assessments of our education system have been deeply disconcerting. And the pandemic only exacerbated these attendant issues The abrupt shift to blended modes of learning did not really work well, considering many families didn’t have access to steady internet connections nor to the gadgets necessary for online learning. Hence, in the coming years, we will need to help our students catch up with their learning.
All sectors of society also need to help with rebuilding our economy. We need to enhance the productive capabilities of our industries and promote the Philippines to the rest of the world as an investment destination. This should be no less than a national effort. We’ve been trying to do just with our Tatak Pinoy (Proudly Filipino) initiative. Hopefully, with the coming of a new administration, more thought can be placed on what must be done to help homegrown, Filipino enterprises succeed not just in the country, but in the global arena.
We are also challenged to lay the foundations today for our next phase of economic development in a post-pandemic world. Recently, Secretary Karl Chua outlined in many fora and media briefings four priority areas that would set the stage for the incoming administration. This includes smart infrastructure, innovation, regional equity, and climate change.
In the face of these challenges, we shouldn’t let our politics prevent us from getting together to push the country forward.
Email: [email protected]| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara
Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 15 years — nine years as Representative of the lone district of Aurora, and six as Senator. He has authored and sponsored more than 250 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate.