Senate to pay tribute to former Senate President Edgardo Angara tomorrow

Current and former senators will pay tribute to the late Senate President Edgardo Angara, tomorrow, May 16 at 10 am. Angara succumbed to heart attack last Sunday at the age of 83.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III will present proposed Senate Resolution No. 732 in consideration of Resolution No. 734 to the Angara family expressing the Senate's sympathy and condolences on the death of the former senator.

Pimentel, past and present senators, Senate secretariat officials led by Senate Secretary Lutgardo Barbo and employees will receive the remains of Angara at the foyer of the main entrance of the Senate building, after which his remains will be escorted to the Senate Session Hall.

Expected to deliver eulogies for the late Senate President are Senate President Pimentel, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators Loren Legarda, Richard Gordon, Joel Villanueva and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Former Presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Joseph Estrada, former Senate President Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel, Jr., former Senator Rene Saguisag and former Senator and Taguig Representative Pia Cayetano are also expected to pay tribute to Angara.

The University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers and Singing Ambassadors will sing the National Anthem and other songs during the necrological service.

Angara, father of Senator Sonny Angara, was born in Baler, Aurora on September 24, 1934. He served the Senate from 1987 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2013. He became Senate President from 1993 to 1995 and Senate Minority Leader from 1995 to 1996. Angara authored landmark bills such as the Senior Citizens Act, Free High School Education Act, establishment of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Technical Education and Skill Development Authority (TESDA), the National Health Insurance Act (Philhealth), the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA), the Renewable Energy Act and the Procurement Reform Act.

Angara served as Executive Secretary in 2001 and Secretary of Agriculture from 1999 to 2001 during the Estrada administration. He was appointed as chairman of the Philippine National Bank from 1998 to 1999.

Before becoming a senator, Angara was the President of the University of the Philippines from 1981 to 1987. He was also the President of the Philippine Bar Association in 1975 and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in 1979.

He was one of the founding partners of the Angara, Abello, Concepcion, Regala and Cruz Law Office (ACCRALaw), one of the leading law firms in the country.

Angara was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as special envoy to the European Union in May 2017.

The younger Angara announced the passing of his father on his twitter account on Sunday.

"Sad to say my father, former Senator Edgardo Javier Angara, passed on from this life this morning at the age of 83 from an apparent heart attack," Angara said. (Olivia Caunan)