ANGARA TO VOTERS: 'ALAGANG ANGARA' FAMILY LEGACY TO CONTINUE

Senator Sonny Angara said on Saturday that the Filipino people could count on him to continue the "Alagang Angara" family legacy should they reelect him to the Senate, as he appealed to voters to take into account his track record as a public servant when they cast their ballots on Monday.

Angara, who has been a lawmaker for 15 years--9 years as Aurora congressman and 6 years as senator--also paid tribute to his father, the late Senate President Edgardo Angara, whose first death anniversary coincides with the May 13 midterm elections.

"From my father, I received a huge mission and a legacy to pass on and I intend to do just that," Angara said, as he spent the last day of campaigning in Metro Manila that will culminate in the "Miting de Avance" of PDP-Laban, the political party of President Rodrigo Duterte, in Pasig City after 90 days of grueling campaign.

Angara said he was proud to carry forward his father's legacy of public service and noteworthy advocacies under the brand "Alagang Angara," which is anchored on education, health, job creation and social protection.

"Where my father made high school free, we did the same for kindergarten and college," said Angara, one of the authors of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act which made tuition and miscellaneous fees free in public universities and colleges, and the Free Kindergarten Law.

He added: "Where my father established PhilHealth, we were among those who worked on the newly enacted Universal Health Care Act which among other things aims to make check-ups and lab tests free for every Filipino. Where my father established TESDA to promote better work-skills, we expanded the Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES), established DOLE's JobStart Program, and made sure that every province, city, municipality in this country has a Public Employment Service Office (PESO) that will help jobseekers find employment."

According to Angara, his track record speaks volumes of what he has accomplished as a lawmaker and a staunch advocate of giving every Filipino equal opportunity for a better life through quality and free education and health care and decent jobs.

"Our track record speaks for itself. Hopefully, our track record shows that in many ways, we're building on and improving the good things, the institutions that those who came before us had already set up. Hopefully, our track record underscores that we are worth voting for again in the elections on Monday," he said.

Angara, one of the leading senatorial candidates based on various independent pre-election surveys, has earned the endorsements of several political leaders and influential groups, the latest of them were the religious organizations Iglesia ni Cristo and El Shadddai.

At least seven senators, including the top four leaders of the Senate, are also vocal in their support for Angara's reelection bid. They are Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, and Senators Loren Legarda, Joel Villanueva and Sherwin Gatchalian.

Angara's candidacy is also backed by several organizations, cause-oriented groups, political parties such as One Batangas; Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc.; Filipinos for Peace, Justice and Progress Movement (FPJPM); Coalition of the Elderly Inc.; Alyansa ng May Kapansanang Pinoy (AKAP-Pinoy); Tahanang Walang Hagdan Inc.; Philippine Paralympic Committee; Coop-NATCCO Party-list; health advocacy groups PGH Cancer Survivors Organization (PCSORG), the Ostomy Association of the Philippines (OAP), and breast cancer survivors' group KaBoobs; Davao-based District III Women Federation Inc.; and the seafarers' ANGKLA party-list group.

He is also being endorsed by Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HnP), the influential regional political party led by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, and President Duterte's PDP-Laban.

Angara chairs the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, the political party once led by his father, who was behind landmark legislation that created the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Free College High School Act, the Senior Citizens Act, and the National Health Insurance Act that created the PhilHealth.

Since becoming a legislator in 2004, first as representative of the lone district of Aurora and later as senator in 2013, the younger Angara authored and sponsored more than 180 national and local laws, and vowed to continue his legislative agenda of helping every member of the Filipino family if voters return him to the Senate.

Among his notable legislation are the free kindergarten and college laws; VAT exemption for senior citizens and persons with disability; free medical check-up, laboratory tests and some medicines under PhilHealth; year-round student fare discount; establishment of the Expanded Public Employment Service Office (PESO) in every local government unit to assist people seeking employment; tax exemption of "balikbayan" boxes of overseas Filipino workers; free government-issued documents for first-time jobseekers; and the scrapping of the 12-percent VAT on maintenance medicines for diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol.