A lawmaker Thursday said the new President has laid out, in his inaugural speech, a lot of practical, down-to-earth and doable vision for the country.

Senator Edgardo J. Angara said President Benigno Aquino III’s vision of a prolific economy might be attained through infrastructure, employment and better delivery of social services.

He said the new President hit the nail on the head by citing daily problems of Filipinos such as extortion by men in uniform on hapless drivers and the unauthorized ear-splitting blaring of sirens by those in government.

In a talk with Senate reporters, Angara admitted that he had expected his former colleagues in the Senate to deliver a speech like the oratory of US President Barrack Obama, but he said that Aquino nevertheless spoke in a style that the ordinary Filipino understood and had brought his message across.

The new President must, therefore, confront the thick, paralyzing bureaucracy that makes governing the country very difficult, Angara pointed out.

As former chairman of the Senate finance committee, Angara said that, to enhance productivity and provide the foundation for future progress of the country, there is a need for huge investments on physical infrastructure and social services such as health care, education, huge housing backlog and the great demand for energy.

‘’Infrastructure is a solid investment that will create job opportunities and deliver better services as government provides a conducive environment for efficiency,’’ he said.

Angara, a former Senate president, however, did not agree with Aquino’s statement that he would not raise taxes.

‘’Stepping up tax collection efforts combined with wise spending could solve our budget deficit. Still, I don’t believe any administration should bind itself beforehand to not being able to raise revenue through taxes.

Taxation is a sustainable source of revenue for the country.

The important thing to remember is we need to keep stimulating the economy and maintain a level of growth in order to create jobs and prevent more people from sinking into poverty,’’ he said.

‘’We should use our borrowing in a way that it supports growth because growth itself will help us reduce our borrowing and reduce debt.

Over time, a stronger rebound in the form of higher growth levels could allow quicker debt reduction and a certain amount of debt can be considered beneficial if debt spending aids economic welfare, since government spending on public goods adds insult to social benefit,’’ he added, stressing that this calls for a well-targeted government plan.

‘’The President has to lead in the overhaul of how we spend limited resources in our national budget. Budgetary reform should focus on making our system of allocation achieves fairness, equity and transparency.

He should change the closed, secretive budget process, from the time it originates from the bureaucracy to the Department of Budget and Management, up to the limited examination made by Congress, and then finally the huge discretionary authority of the President to choose what appropriation gets released and what projects are funded,’’ he added.