SPAIN VISIT, NOT A HOLIDAY--ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara, in response to some lawmakers' probe and critics' comments on his Spain visit, said that it is "far from being a holiday and an extravagant junket."

"It is done in the spirit of forging new democratic, cultural and economic ties between Spain and the Philippines," said Angara author of the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Act and Chairman of the Philippines-Spain Parliamentary Friendship Group. He was invited by the Spanish government to address the 3rd Tribuna España-Filipinas, a yearly conference attended by both Spanish and Filipino government leaders.

On the 2nd day of the visit, Philippines and Spain have signed nine bilateral agreements translating to P9.2 billion worth of investments in the country. "A clear indication that this is all work and that whatever investments we get will be beneficial to the country."

Among the agreements signed are the $200 million grant for the development of jatropha; P134.7 million grant for Sustainable Management of Coastal Resources in Bicol and Caraga; P103 million for research projects in biotechnology, food technology, sustainable management of marine environment and aquaculture; cooperation in microfinance for farmers and fisherfolk, technology transfer for Spanish agricultural technologies and trainings; and assistance in cultivating cassava as biofuel feedstock.

Senator Angara, for his part, is pushing for an agreement on academic exchange with different universities in Madrid and the Basque Country, as well as an agreement for sports cooperation with the Spanish Ministry of Sports.

The Senator is also looking for prospective investors for the newly established Aurora Special Economic Zone. A $106 million development of a mariculture park in Casiguran, Aurora is among the proposed project of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the signed DA-AZTI Foundation of Basque memorandum agreement.

"Trade activities between Spain and the Philippines have declined. Spain is now only our 29th trading partner, which amounts to a mere 0.18% of our total trade," Angara pointed out.

"We hope to revert this trend and bring in more investment activities from Spain," said Angara. Spain has recently issued a new migration policy to open up their country to more people from their former colonies in North Africa and Latin America .

Prior to the Spain visit, Senator Angara who chairs the Senate Subcommittee C on Finance has duly submitted the budgets of all the agencies under it, urging his colleagues to "balance duty and compassion" in light of the Hotel Peninsula Makati siege.

The agencies under the subcommittee are the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), State Universities and Colleges (SUC), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Tourism (DOT), cultural institutions: National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA), National Historical Institute (NHI), and National Archives of the Philippines, National Library and National Museum, and all housing agencies.

Only the budgets of the National Housing Authority and the National Youth Commission were left to be presented in the plenary when the Senate decided to adjourn the session because of the Makati siege.