Transcript of Senator Pia Cayetano's co-sponsorship speech commending Secretary Sonny Angara
July 30, 2024
Transcript of Senator Pia Cayetano's co-sponsorship speech commending Secretary Sonny Angara
July 30, 2024
Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I filed Senate Resolution 1094, all the accomplishments of Senator Angara are already there, I will not repeat it. We are all very proud of his accomplishments. The older ones here have been his classmates in the Lower House. Many of the bills that our colleague, Senator Angara, sponsored when he was in the House, I co-sponsored when I was in the Senate. And then, a few years later, after his father retired, we worked together on many education bills. Like I said those are all in the resolutions that many of us have filed.
I'd like to take a minute or two, I've asked our colleagues to indulge me, sumingit po ako sa apat sa kanila. Senator Angara will be truly missed. This is not an easy job. Many of us have worked together for 9, 12, some longer, because of the time they've spent in the House. And it is not easy to disagree with your friends. It is not easy to argue with your friends, it is not easy to try to convince your friends of positions that you hold that may be different from theirs.
I can honestly say I did not really encounter much difficulty working with Senator Angara. He is usually quite easy to deal with. But I know when he's firm, and I never tried to bother changing his mind if he was already decided about something. But I have had the pleasure of knowing him since he was two years old. He was a cute little toddler, yeah he was two. Our fathers were colleagues in the law office. And then I never saw him again. So I had this memory of him, two years old, and then suddenly, he is a grown man. Mukha naman intelligent nung naririnig ko sa House, I didn't get a chance to work with him yet at that time, graduate naman sa kilalang university sa Amerika and then graduate ng aming alma mater, isang abogado from UP, so I was looking forward to working with him in the Senate. And I just have to say, he did not disappoint. It's been a pleasure working with Senator Angara.
Usually, we don't get a chance to say to the face of our colleagues that it was a pleasure working with them, because the time that we stand up here to honor them, they are dead. And so we are grateful that Senator Angara is not dead and he is alive today to hear our many pleasant... No, I mean it, truthfully, the times I've spent here, the Minority Floor Leader is laughing, but I've had to stand here to honor his father, I've had to stand here to honor the father of Senator Angara, I've had to honor so many long gone colleagues and if you think about it, how many times did you get to say it to their face na, you honor them for the work they do?
So I'm happy to get to say it to Senator Angara. I take great pride in having a colleague who also takes pride in taking care of his health and his well-being. So I told him that as the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Finance, which was the position I held under him and which I continue to hold, one of my first tasks is look at the state of the sports foundation in Ultra, which is near his office, to ensure that the incoming Secretary, well the Secretary but who will soon be approved by the CA, has an environment that is conducive to staying healthy and leading the department. When he takes on this task to take care of the teachers, it's also important that he leads by example. So I'm looking at his team here who I suppose, you're not out of a job, I suppose you are going to be working with him. So if you can push him out the door at a certain time and then walk around the track oval, ang kaya lang namin ma-guarantee eh hindi butas-butas yung track oval na yun tapos yung banyo, malinis. May swimming pool din doon. Marunong ba kayo lumangoy? Does your boss know how to swim?
Okay, ang dami hong exercise na pwedeng gawin because this colleague of ours has supported all my initiatives on having a healthy body and a healthy mind. So the least we can do is when he assumes, as he assumes his new post, that he also has that opportunity to take care of his body as he takes care of his one million teachers. Ilan yung teachers niyo? How many million teachers and students? Okay, I don't know the number but the millions. The millions of people you have to take care of. My fervent wish is that you're able to take care of yourself.
So I leave it at that, Mr. President. I have so many more stories to share but there will be opportunities. I pray that our colleague, Senator Joel, will be able to sustain himself without his sparring partner. I hope that there will be opportunities for you to still play basketball. I don't know, do you have a rule that allows Senator Angara to still play with the Senate team? Is that allowed? He still can. So I think that will be much needed for his mental health. We have passed laws on mental health and we must also help him. The Senate President Pro Tempore, do not distract the recipient of all my good... Do not talk to the honoree so we can make sure that my lectures on mental health are fully absorbed.
But Mr. President, again, we're honored to see that... I don't want to say usually. There are times that we are not happy with the appointments that are made. Many times, we are mumbling and wondering why a certain person was appointed. But in this particular case, the loss of the Senate is the gain of DepEd. So we thank the President for the faith he has in our colleague and I know that the years of Senate work has prepared him for this job. Thank you, Mr. President.
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