BETTER DAYS
Senator Sonny Angara
Throughout the 18th Congress, we worked hard to come up with laws that respond to the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as benefit a wide range of sectors. Not all of our proposed legislation gets approved, as in every Congress. Several are taken up during committee hearings. Some are debated in plenary, and even get enacted into law. Many more are not taken up at all.
As we have always stated, our mandate as a legislator is to follow through on our commitment to get the bills we file passed into law. We firmly believe that each bill will make a difference. And so many of the proposals that did not pass muster in the 18th Congress will be included in what we will file in the upcoming 19th Congress.
Recently, we started off by filing our first 20 priority bills and resolutions. These tackle a wide range of issues and topics, from health and education to the creatives sector and sports — all covering interests and advocacies that we have long held as a public servant.
Since we still find ourselves in a pandemic, a number of these bills are focused on the health sector. One is the Healthcare Facility Augmentation Act, which seeks to create new hospitals that will be attached to state universities and colleges (SUCs) offering medical degree programs. Another is the Satellite Specialty Hospitals Act, which mandates existing specialty hospitals namely the Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, and the Philippine Children's Medical Center to establish satellite hospitals in geographically isolated regions and provinces of the country.
A third is the E-Health System and Services Act, establishing a national eHealth system that will direct and regulate the practice of eHealth or telehealth in the country. Then there is the Dialysis Center Act, which mandates free dialysis treatment for indigent patients and requires all national, regional, and provincial government hospitals to maintain a dialysis ward.
A fifth is on providing free annual medical check-ups to all Filipinos, including blood sugar and cholesterol tests. And a sixth contains amendments to the Magna Carta for Health Workers that will increase their benefits such as night shift differential, hazard pay, subsistence allowance, laundry allowance, among others.
We also refiled many of our measures on improving the plight of our teachers to go hand-in-hand with ongoing efforts to improve the country’s educational system. There’s the Teaching Supplies Allowance Act, which increases the cash allowance to teachers from the current ₱3,500 to ₱5,000 per teacher per school year. Another is on establishing the Teacher Education for Achievers (TEACH) program, which grants scholarships to qualified applicants in the areas of learning and education, and incentives to those who pursue teaching careers in the public school system. A third is one we’ve filed consistently over the years — about increasing the salaries of our public school teachers.
We also refiled our proposal to grant underprivileged students a five percent discount on food establishments, medicines, textbooks and school supplies, tuition, miscellaneous and other school fees and entrance fees to museums, theaters, and cultural events.
Bills that cover other sectors and issues include the Poverty Alleviation Through Social Entrepreneurship (PRESENT) Act; the Right to Adequate Food Framework Act; the Magna Carta for Workers in the Informal Economy (MACWIE); the Rural Employment Assistance Act; the Magna Carta for Barangays; the Artists Incentives Act; and the measure Expanding the Incentives Granted to National Athletes and Coaches.
Some measures we filed help move forward our Tatak Pinoy advocacy to industrialize the Philippines and create more well-paying jobs for our countrymen here at home. There is the Exports and Investments Development Act (EIDA), which amends several provisions of the Export Development Act of 1994 to strengthen our exports sector and empower them to offer more diversified and sophisticated products and services. Another is about institutionalizing the Domestic Bidders Certification Program of the Department of Trade and Industry so that more local enterprises can supply to the government, in line with existing procurement rules.
We also refiled our resolution calling on the Senate Committee on Finance to conduct an inquiry on the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending on its industrialization and employment-generation initiatives. We want to find out what the funding requirements are for a multi-year expenditure plan for bolstering Filipino or “Tatak Pinoy” productive sectors and encouraging inclusive growth across the country.
We are confident that the 19th Congress, with its new composition, will be just as productive or even more than its predecessor. Hopefully, under the new administration, the legislation we have proposed and will propose, will be considered favorably for the benefit of our people.
Email: [email protected]| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara
(Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 18 years — nine years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and nine as Senator. He has authored and sponsored more than 250 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate.)