Press Release
May 9, 2007

Prioritize food, health and education -- Angara

Senator Edgardo J. Angara yesterday stressed that incoming senators should focus on the top three social concerns for them to be effective leaders of the republic.

Food and jobs, healthcare and education, are the main concerns of the public. These social concerns intertwine and affect each other. If government focuses on these needs, it will never go wrong, Angara said.

According to a survey conducted in February by the Social Weather Station, one in every five Filipino families, or roughly 3.4 million households, suffered hunger pangs in the first quarter of this year.

Angara noted that this is due mainly to very poor conditions in the area of jobs generation in the country.

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the annual average family income in 2003 was lower at P278,174 than in 2000 at P300,304.

Moreover, the purchasing power of the peso has changed very little over the past couple of years according to the findings of NSO, which pegged it at an average of 0.74.

Regarding education, the number of out-of-school youth has grown due to the high cost of schooling, and lack of interest among students. Others were said to be busy looking for jobs, which constitute 51.8-percent of the total 34 million population (6-24 years old).

The problem is that jobs are not easy to come by despite what statistics show as a positive employment rate, Angara said.

He added, most of these job hunters are barely out of the crib.

They are young and with a lot of potential for growth. Do these candidates know that more than 50 percent of the students who do go to school walk to their respective schools? Incoming senators must take note of this and provide these children with better opportunities than what they have today, Angara said.

Angara, a three-time senator, has authored numerous bills easing the plight of students and teachers, based on his experience as president of the University of the Philippines. Among laws authored by Angara were: Public School Teachers Dependents Benefits; Computer Education Program Integration in Educational System; Special Program for Employment of Students; School Building Program Act of 2005; and the Student Fare Discount Act.

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