Sonny Angara: Substance beyond the name

Senatorial candidate Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara dropped by our Makati office for coffee the other day and judging from the reception he received from our staff especially the younger ones, it’s apparent that the congressman from Aurora is readily accepted by the young as “one of us.”

Being the only boy in the family, we asked Sonny if he was brought up spoiled and privileged, to which he laughs, calling the kind of parenting he received from his father, Senator Ed, as “tough love.” “He has very high standards,” the young congressman says, telling us that when he told his father during graduation from law school that he finished at the top 20 of his class, the older Angara looked at him and said, “O, why aren’t you in the top 10?”

Himself a self-made man with humble beginnings who prides himself in being a consistent scholar (including his Master of Law degree which he obtained as a Dewitt scholar at the University of Michigan), Ed naturally puts a lot of stock on education, always conscious not to spoil his four kids, lavishing on them not fancy cars or material things, but books. “He spoiled us with books. We’d go to a bookstore and he would tell us to pick as many books as we wanted,” Sonny says, disclosing that his first car was an old Volkswagen.

Aside from exacting high standards, one thing that impresses the young man most about his father is the kind of work ethic displayed by the older Angara. “There’s never a single person who worked with him who would say he was lazy or would give halfhearted effort to any work. None of that,” he says, unconsciously revealing the strong impact this has had on him as a legislator and as an individual. Not many people know that before running for Congress in 2004, Sonny had worked as a business reporter for this paper and was an associate lawyer for litigation at ACCRA Law. In his nine years in Congress, the young man had proven to be as industrious as his father, having authored various bills on education, health, women’s rights and other concerns.

Definitely, one other character trait that would tell you a lot of insight and speaks volumes about a congressman is his record of attendance. Admittedly, a lot of young politicians today feel some sort of “entitlement” due to the notion that they were “born” into the position and thus couldn’t really care less whether they show up or not, but this isn’t the case as far as Sonny Angara is concerned. “Only single digit absences every single year of all my nine years in Congress. Of course you have to factor in community engagements, typhoons and the times when you get sick,” he points out. 

He tackles head-on the issue of “political dynasties” in this country. “Some people lump us with the old dynasties but if you look at my dad’s career, at the career of the Angaras, you could see we were professionals who entered politics. We were not brought up to think we had a career in politics, but at some point we found ourselves going towards public service.”

Like many others running for a higher position, Sonny has a platform that includes education, jobs, healthcare, etc., but he says it’s not so much the platform that should spell the difference, but “what one has done before which should be an indication of what you are going to do. If you look at other candidates advocating education, there’s hardly any track record to speak of,” he opines, confident of his track record having been a college instructor, giving out full college scholarships to 3,000 students and building over 300 classrooms from his congressional funds.

If one were to describe this young politician at all, it would be as the enhanced and reinvented “digital” version of his father – much like the innovations and refinements made on iPad 1 to come out with the more improved iPad 2, then iPad 3 and now, the iPad 4. And this becomes apparent when he says a big focus will be on job creation. “That’s one thing where I differ from my dad because his focus has mostly been on education – but creating jobs is the next step. Kailangan may sumalo dun sa graduate. Kung walang sumalo, then you are educating for migration,” he concludes.

Obviously, “Angara” is a “brand name” in the political circle – something that Sonny readily admits, but outside of that, it will be on the strength of who he is as an individual that would ultimately determine the kind of legislator – perhaps senator – he is going to be.

Moving up the ladder

Spy Bits was informed of a forthcoming reorganization at TV5 with Noel Lorenzana, currently the PLDT Group’s head for Individual Business, promoted as president and CEO of MediaQuest Holdings (whose affiliates include TV5). Noel is taking over the position vacated by current TV5 CEO Rey Espinosa who is expected to be moving up as associate director of First Pacific and will be working on new investments both in the Philippines and the Asia Pacific region.

Spy tidbit

The Commission on Elections is offering a free mobile app developed by Smart Communications which features a precinct finder, the list of candidates as laid out in the ballot and a “my report” section where voters can report complaints on election violations. This new app is available for IOS gadgets through the Apple app store with an Android version also available soon.

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