Fulbright tribute to former Sen. Edgardo J. Angara
SENATOR Angara will be remembered for his many legacies and contributions to his country. Among these are his accomplishments in education and bilateral exchanges.
As Chair of the Congressional Committee on Education, he sponsored landmark bills that created two cornerstone government education bodies: the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority ( TESDA).
As member of the Philippine Senate, he introduced a proposal in the Philippine Senate in 1994 to increase the Philippine government’s contribution to the Fulbright program in the Philippines from six to 35-five percent, enabling more Filipino scholars to receive study grants and research funding.
As former Agriculture Secretary, he created a flagship program to help farmers and fishermen improve agricultural efficiency and output called the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA).
Then Secretary Angara considered human capi- tal development as key to improving the Philippines’ agriculture sector. As a result, in 1999 he founded an international scholarship program aimed at modernizing Philippine agriculture and fisheries research, strategies and methods: the Fulbright Philippines Agriculture Scholarship Program (FPASP).
Since then, several hundred Filipino agriculture professionals were sent to the U.S. for further studies. FPASP alumni are now high-level policy-makers, university officials and academics, and leading researchers.