STATEMENT ABOUT THE UNTIMELY DEMISE OF SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE EU EDGARDO J. ANGARA

I join the majority of the Filipino nation in expressing their deepest condolences to the bereaved family of former Senator, Senate President, University of the Philippines President, Department of Agriculture Secretary, Philippine National Bank Chairman, Executive Secretary, and Special Envoy to the European Union Edgardo Javier Angara.

Angara died from a sudden heart attack last May 13, 2018. His death was announced by his son and incumbent Senator Juan Edgardo Angara on social media. A lot of politicians expressed their grief over the death like former Presidents Joseph Ejercito Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and former Senators Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Pilar Juliana Cayetano, and Rene Saguisag. The President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo visited the wake of the former statesman.

Former Senator Angara has been instrumental in the laws which greatly benefited the Filipinos such as the creation of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); providing of free secondary education in all public schools; giving of the 20% discount for senior citizens; providing health insurance to everyone thru PhilHealth; creation of the biggest scholarship program - the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE). He was also the mind behind the legislations that benefited farmers and fisher folk from improved seeds and plant materials, better irrigation, better financing and market access as well as guaranteed the rights and privileges of public health workers and created the new National Museum and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

The legislations that former Senator Angara led to the creation of CHED, TESDA, NCCA, and provising health insurance to all Filipinos through PhilHealth. Photo downloaded from peopleasia.ph. Logos of CHED, TESDA, NCCA and PhilHealth obtained from Wikipedia Commons.

He was noted for being a loyal Estrada supporter and ran as his Vice President but losing to then Senator Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. When Estrada assumed the presidency, he hold numerous positions in the government as Philippine National Bank (PNB) Chairman, Agriculture Secretary, and Executive Secretary until the President Estrada was toppled down by EDSA II in 2001.

His last government post has been as the Philippines' Special Envoy to the European Union (EU) in 2017 when he was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

I hope that with Angara's untimely death, his achievements and reforms instituted as a nation builder and statesman will never be forgotten by the Filipino nation, whether they have been directly benefited from it or not.

The Philippines once more lose another great public servant.

Edgardo Javier Angara. Photo courtesy of peopleasia.ph