EdPam, Oca: ‘Definitely no sibling rivalry’

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

ANGELES CITY -- Both Mayor Edgardo “EdPam” Pamintuan of Angeles and Mayor Oscar “Oca” Rodriguez of San Fernando professed over the weekend that “there would definitely be no sibling rivalry” between the urbanized and component cities after inking a sisterhood pact at the Museo Ning Angeles before their respective City Councils and department heads.

“Definitely, there would no sibling rivalry or such problems in our agreement, like what happens to other sister city pacts. Ours would be to complement each other according to what we have agreed. Rather than competing against each other, we will work towards the better end of our cities and constituents in the name of unity, harmony and development,” Pamintuan told Sun.Star Pampanga after signing the memorandum of agreement.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Calling Rodriguez the “living icon of good governance,” Pamintuan -- this year’s Pampanga media Man of the Year -- thanked him for the opportunity of moving ahead as sister cities.

“It all started last year when we at Angeles City forged a twinning agreement to protect the environment. We came to Heroes Hall in San Fernando to observe their best practices. And Mayor Oca never said no when I asked him if he and the city government could show us the way in transforming Angeles City, just like San Fernando. I thank him so much for graciously accommodating our request. What he has done not only for San Fernando but all members of the League of Cities of the Philippines which he leads is one to reckon with,” said Pamintuan.

The “visionary” Rodriguez, for his part, assured that all best practices of Fernandinos will be shared to Angeleños without conditions and strings attached.

“I have always been an advocate of clustering of local government units for development. We at the City of San Fernando cannot do it alone. Together with Mayor EdPam, we can learn more and work together. As harbingers of hope, this twinning agreement will highlight the need to involve communities, rely on each other, make borders and race meaningless and raise volunteerism without divide,” Rodriguez said.

He added that the historic moment as the two cities are now sisters will give way to efforts in pursuing common interests in health, education, infrastructure and optimum delivery of basic services.

“We hope that this partnership will boost both our people’s resiliency and will be a model for other local government units to follow. We do not see any rivalry between our cities and constituents,” he said.

Mabalacat into the fore

Pamintuan and Rodriguez also welcomed the request of Mabalacat Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales to become part of the partnership once the first class municipality becomes a city this year.

“Of course. Mabalacat is most welcome to form that triangle of development once it becomes a city. There would be no hindrances to that and having Mabalacat with us will make Pampanga truly a center for development,” Pamintuan quipped.

Rodriguez said: “It is very much qualified to become a city. Once it becomes so, our concerted efforts to make Pampanga the global gateway of Central Luzon in all directions would be realized.”

Keeping doors ‘slightly ajar’

Pamintuan also told his co-Mabini lawyer colleague Rodriguez to “keep the doors of opportunities” slightly ajar for the future as he is still studying “the proposal.”

“We come from opposite directions of the fence so please give me ample time to study your proposal. But you can be assured that Angeles City will continue to support the national government in its programs. As we always advocate, there are no boundaries in governance and we, together with you, will certainly pursue this,” concluded Pamintuan.