BALER, Aurora, October
1, 2012-“No statesman of this generation has authored and implemented more
far-ranging reforms than Senator Edgardo J. Angara,” says the business magazine
BizNews Asia. “His reforms for education, agriculture, healthcare, anti-graft,
senior citizens, and the economy have made life significantly much better for
many Filipinos and laid the foundation for future growth for the country.”
Indeed,
many of the laws he has crafted are called landmark and milestones. His
prolific track record and solid performance spring from a rich background as an
educator, lawyer, banker, farmer and patron of the arts.
Beginnings
The
man who would become Senator Edgardo Javier Angara was born in Baler, Aurora on
September 24, 1934, the sixth of ten children to Juan and Juana Angara. His
parents were both graduates of the UP-PGH and were the first health workers in
Baler. From their example, Angara learned to value healthcare, education and
public service.
Angara
graduated valedictorian from Baler Elementary School. He continued his
secondary education at Roosevelt High School in San Juan, Rizal, where he was a
school paper editor-in-chief and class valedictorian.
He
went to the University of the Philippines College as an entrance scholar, and
pursued his dream to be a lawyer. He graduated among the top of his law class
in 1958 and passed the bar the following year. Afterward he joined the law firm
Ponce-Enrile Siguion-Reyna Montecillo & Belo Law Offices.
Angara
did further studies in law. He was first granted a Columbia Law School
Scholarship, but he accepted the University of Michigan DeWitt Fellowship, where
he obtained his Master of Laws degree majoring in labor and corporate laws.
Early career
With
leadership and service in his blood, Angara was elected delegate of Quezon
province to the 1971 Constitutional Convention. At only 36 years old, he was
one of the youngest delegates, and made his mark for proposing a parliamentary
system of government, democratizing ownership of public utilities and creating
an independent judiciary.
A
year later, in 1972, with an enterprising group of law classmates, they founded
the ACCRA Law Offices, dubbed the first Filipino law firm for catering to
Filipino entrepreneurs, and has since been one of the country's top law firms.
While
in corporate practice, he served in the boards of many leading companies,
including San Miguel, RCBC, Insular Life and IBM.
The
success of Angara’s law career made his rise to the pinnacle of the legal
profession little surprise. In 1975, he was elected president of the Philippine
Bar Association, the oldest voluntary bar society in the country, and in 1979,
president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), the unified
association of lawyers, demonstrating his emergence as one of the most
prominent leaders of the Bar.
His
visionary leadership reached the international arena. He was instrumental in
persuading the Bar organizations in Southeast Asia to come together and form the
ASEAN Law Association (ALA), one of the largest regional law associations in
the world. Elected founding president, he envisioned the ALA as a transnational
lawyers’ union committed to the goals of the ASEAN and cooperation among its
member states.
A
turning point in his career in the public eye was his term as president of the
University of the Philippines (UP) from
1981 to 1987. He was described as a “resolute technocrat” and a “tough-minded
leader”.
Under
his leadership, a multi-campus university organization was established, a
common General Education program for all campuses introduced, a seven-year
honors medical curriculum installed, and fiscal autonomy obtained. It was also
during his presidency when he worked for the establishment of the Philippine
Rice Research Institute and was henceforth called the “Father of PhilRice”.
“Angara’s
administration’s solutions to the university’s problems would later go on the
record as unprecedented and unsurpassed ... credited with the signal
achievement of rationalizing the transformation of UP into a system of autonomous
universities,” states an official chronicle of his presidency entitled At the
Helm of UP.
Angara
also rallied alumni in the country and abroad behind a massive fundraising
drive both for UP’s diamond jubilee in 1983 and centenary in 2008, when he
chaired the UP Centennial Commission. Massive funds raised went into faculty
development, scholarships, student assistance program, and infrastructure
development.
The
UP Board of Regents honored him with the UP President Edgardo J. Angara
Fellowship, the largest single grant available to UP professors.
At
the height of the political turmoil arising from the assassination of Benigno
“Ninoy” Aquino Jr. in 1983, Angara was invited to join the National Movement
for Free Elections (NAMFREL) as Board Member and later Chairperson to lead the
watch over the 1984 Constitutional Plebiscite.
Legislative
career
Angara’s
foray into politics was upon the invitation of President Corazon C. Aquino, who
personally invited him to join her senatorial slate. “Ed Angara is the face of
decent politics abroad,” she once said. He placed 5th in the 1987
senatorial elections in spite of being a political neophyte.
The
Philippine Star says that, through his legislative work, he has dramatically
changed the lives of all Filipinos “from womb to tomb.”
Angara
earned the title “Mr. Education” for taking up the cause of education reform,
neither dramatic nor headline-grabbing but to him was vital to quality of life
and nation-building.
He
authored the joint resolution creating the Congressional Commission on
Education (EDCOM), and headed it. Through its landmark report “Making Education
Work, An Agenda for Reform”, EDCOM restructured the country’s educational
system.
Angara
also sponsored the laws which created the Commission on Higher Education and
the Technical Education and Skill Development Authority, both of which enabled
the Department of Education to focus on its main concern: basic education.
His
were among the most groundbreaking laws on education: the Free High School Act;
the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education
(GASTPE), the country’s biggest scholarship program to this day; the Philippine
Teachers’ Professionalization Act; the Fair and Equitable Access to Education
Act[1]; the
Science and Technology Scholarship Fund; the Higher Education Modernization
Act; and most recently the Kindergarten Education Act, which institutionalizes
learning during the most critical years of a child’s development.
Health
was another major advocacy of Angara. He authored the Senior Citizens, one of
our most enduring laws on social welfare, as well as its succeeding expanded
act; the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers; the Breastfeeding Act; the
Generics Act; and the National Health Insurance Act which created the
Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) providing social health
insurance for all Filipinos.
Angara
has consistently shown deep commitment for the promotion of culture and the
arts as the author and sponsor of the laws creating the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts, the new National Museum and the Natatanging Manlilikha ng
Bayan Award, the equivalent of the National Artist Award for Filipino folk and
traditional artists.
He
authored the National Book
Publishing Industry Development Act; the National Cultural Heritage Law to
protect the country’s tangible and intangible heritage, and set up Sentro Rizal
around the world; and the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day Act, for which
Spain’s Congreso de los Diputados and Senado separately passed parliamentary
resolutions thanking the Philippines.
National
Artist F. Sionil Jose said Angara “showed himself to be the national leader
most actively engaged and committed to our cultural uplifting.
Agriculture and
countryside development were also very close to Angara’s heart, having grown up
in Baler. He authored the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA),
which created a special purpose fund called the Agriculture Competitiveness
Enhancement Fund (ACEF) that makes credit available to small farmers and fisherfolk,
as well as the Magna Carta for Small Farmers, which empowers small-scale
subsistence farmers, cooperatives and independent farmers’ organizations. During
his term as UP President, he created spearheaded the creation of the Philippine
Rice Research Institute.
Angara,
a firm believer in the power of strong institutions to eradicate corruption and
promote good governance, has authored or sponsored relevant landmark pieces of
legislation, namely the Ombudsman Law, the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the
Salary Standardization Law, the GOCC Governance Act and the internationally
lauded Procurement Reform Act. He also sponsored the Overseas Absentee Voting
Act, and co-sponsored the Anti-Red Tape Act and the law strengthening the
Office of the Solicitor General.
Angara
has endeavored to lay down the groundwork for sustainable economic growth
through banking and financial markets reform. He revised the charters of the
Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Pag-Ibig Fund.
To
deepen the country’s capital markets, Angara initiated the Personal Equity And
Retirement Account (PERA) and the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). He
sought to establish the regulatory framework of pre-need firms through the
Pre-Need Code, as well as increase access to credit through the Credit
Information System Act. His Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act (FRIA)
updated the country’s 100-year-old law on bankruptcy.
His
National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act has made the Philippines
compliant with the standards on biological diversity management and protection
set under various international conventions, such as the World Heritage
Convention and the ASEAN Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources.
Ever
the visionary, Angara sought to create the Congressional Commission on Science,
Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), which now serves as the primary proponent
of science, technology and research and development in the country. In this
regard, he has pushed for the passage of the Biofuels Act, the Technology
Transfer and the Renewable Energy Law, touted as one of the finest models of
clean energy legislation in Asia.
Most
recently passed were the triumvirate of ICT bills he authored or sponsored—Data
Privacy, Cybercrime Prevention and creation of a Department of Information and
Communications Technology (DICT)—that will serve as the foundation of a knowledge
and technology-based economy.
Angara
was elected Senate President at a crucial time (1992-1995). Against a backdrop
of uncertainty, Angara was instrumental in uniting Congress and the Executive.
He strived for cooperation and consensus to avoid disastrous deadlocks by
introducting the Legislative and Executive Development Advisory Council
(LEDAC). Former Senator Ernesto Herrera credited Angara for institutionalizing
planning for the legislative agenda ahead of the official session of Congress.
Angara
strived to build a purposeful and working Senate. During his term, the chamber
passed more than 500 laws, 130 of which were reform measures including the
creation of an independent Central Bank (New Central Bank Act). His tenure
remains one of the most outstanding to date, according to the Social Weather
Stations survey.
Having
been elected to four consecutive terms (1987-1998 and 2001-present), Angara is
the longest serving Senator in the post-EDSA era.
He
also remains the chairman of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), the
only political party to which he belongs since 1995.
Executive
positions
Angara
remained productive during the mandatory term break. He first served as
chairman of the Philippine National Bank (1998-1999). Though a brief tenure, he
managed to institute an equitable profit-sharig scheme for the bank’s rank and
file employees—a first in the bank’s history. He also put up a non-contributory
pension fund and expedited a Collective Bargaining Agreement that had been
dragging on for two years. Overall, PNB posted a strong performance and was the
most trusted bank of OFW’s and small depositors.
As
Secretary of Agriculture from 1999 to 2001, Angara came full circle in his
efforts to make the sector more competitive. He successfully steered efforts
toward food security and improved productivity. He invested in R&D and
massive education and training programs for agricultural scientists and
technologists, sending over 150 Filipino scholars to US universities under the
DA-Fulbright program he enacted. He also undertook a comprehensive improvement
of the national irrigation network.
From
1993-1997, the real Gross Value Added (GVA) in agriculture, fishery and
forestry only grew by 2.6 percent per year. From the beginning of his stint at
the DA until 2004, average growth rate nearly doubled to 4.1 percent per year,
on par with ASEAN.
His
term also recorded the highest growth in corn production, increased farm
incomes to match the cost of living, stabilized the price of rice and helped
the fish and livelihood industry recover from a slump.
Angara’s
stint as Executive Secretary (2001) lasted for a mere 14 days but was crucial
in the peaceful transition of leadership from President Joseph Estrada to
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, avoiding violence and death during the
turbulent second people power revolution.
Honors and
recognitions
The
former Senator Blas F. Ople has called Angara a “national living treasure”.
As
one of the country’s foremost intellectuals and academics, Angara has been
bestowed several honoris causa from the Philippine Normal University, De La
Salle University, Pangasinan State University, Southwestern University,
Mindanao State University and the Don Mariano Marcos State University, among
others.
His
alma matter has honored him with the Most Distinguished Alumnus Award, while
his home college UP Law gave him the Highest Professional Award.
Angara
has also been conferred with the Commandeur dans l'ordre des Palmes medal, a
citation given by the French Republic to individuals engaged in promoting
excellence in higher education. He was also the first Filipino Lee Kuan Yew
Fellow.
Angara
has strived to rekindle the Philippines' historic ties with Spain and Mexico by
pioneering the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day Act and the International Dia
del Galeon celebration. These efforts earned him Spain’s Premio Casa Asia in
2010, making him the first Southeast Asian to win the foreign policy prize.
Likewise,
he was chosen as the official representative of the Unión Latina, an
organization consisting of 37 member-nations of the neo-latin languages, to the
Philippines.
Angara
was recently welcomed into the global fold of scholars as a Corresponding
Academic Member of the prestigious Real Academia Hispano Americana De Ciencias,
Artes Y Letras (Royal Hispano-American Academy of Science, Arts and Letters)
based in Cadiz, Spain, the first Asian and non-Spanish speaker to be elected as
such.
His
drive for good governance enjoys international support. He is a member of the
Executive Board of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against
Corruption (GOPAC) and was elected its Vice Chair during the group's 4th Global
Conference in Mexico City in 2011.
True
to being a trailblazer, he led the formation of the South East Asian
Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) and was elected its charter president
in 2005. Because of his untiring commitment, GOPAC chose the Philippines as the
host of its next biennial conference in 2013 which will bring together more
than 500 members of parliament from 50 countries.
For
being a reformer of unequalled skill and zeal, Angara was named by PeopleAsia
magazine as one of the People of the Year 2011-2012.
Continuing
legacy
After
decades in public service, Angara is not displaying signs of slowing down.
He
pioneered the Oh My Gulay! (OMG!) campaign to jumpstart school and backyard in
the hopes of encouraging young students to eat fruits and vegetables.
He is also the Vice President of the
Centrist Democrat International (CDI) in the recent concluded organization’s
biennial Leaders' Meeting in Rome, Italy.
In
his hometown of Baler, he has built an Artists Village, the first of its kind
in the Philippines and even in the whole of Southeast Asia.
A
voracious reader, Angara has channeled his interests toward writing his own
books. Together with esteemed writer and curator Sonia P. Ner, he has
co-authored beautiful yet scholarly coffeetable books: Baler, Mapping the
Philippines, Manuel Luis Quezon, Aurora Aragon Quezon, and soon a monumental
book on the Galleon Trade.
Angara
is married to Gloria Manalang Angara, a social science teacher and former Chair
of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. They have four children: eldest
daughter Anna; only son Sonny, who has his own brood, Manolo, Ines and Javier,
with wife Tootsy; daughter Katya who has a daughter Alegra with husband
Anthony; and youngest daughter Alex.
Angara
will be remembered for making a difference in the lives of ordinary Filipinos,
for contributions that are measurable, not merely rhetorical.
