A WEALTHY man is known by what he gives. The rich man by the parties he throws; the man of influence by those who seek his help.

How do you determine if a politician, like one holding an elective office, is unbeatable? The first step is through a survey.

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The second is in the number of powerful people who visit him, like, say, City Mayor Oca Rodriguez of San Fernando, who has been the object of courtship by officials aspiring for national positions.

The same is true with Angeles City Mayor Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno. His acceptability and people’s preference was gauged by the “courtship” of Presidential aspirants in recent months.

“One does not seek support from a city mayor perceived as a loser. People always gravitate to a winner,” according to City Administrator Mark Allen Sison.

That could be the reason why former President Joseph Estrada visited Angeles City a fortnight ago. He attempted to revive his friendship with Mayor Blueboy, possibly for his planned candidacy.

Before that MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando sought the mayor’s support to his Presidential bid. They had a long talk at the City Hall.

Then Sen. Manny Villar followed suit, presumably with the same purpose.

Last week it was Sen. Francis Escudero who came to town and, in no uncertain term, paid glowing tribute to Mayor Blueboy’s administration.

What do the four Presidential aspirants have in common?

“They have a high respect for Nepomuceno’s leadership, a faith in his strength with his constituents, and the cheerful prospect of his reelection,” Sison explained.

At his State of the City report to Angelenos today, Mayor Blueboy should provide factual and truthful evidence of his accomplishments for the period in review.

Angeles City residents who may not be accommodated at the SM Clark Events Center where he will deliver his report may tune in to the local radio station covering the event and find out if the mayor is telling the truth and deserve another term.

As a city resident my impression with the Nepomuceno governance is his positive transformation of the community. He restored a sense of order and discipline in our streets by driving out illegal street vendors.

He has forged an alliance of goodwill between Moro traders and the Christian shopkeepers to prevent violence.

He aims to give the city a safe and friendly habitat with his program for city lighting/traffic lights to serve main and inner streets. The lamp posts in Barangay Sto. Domingo draw admiration from motorists.

If the Mayor can achieve a zero Sidewalk Vendors program by sustained discipline, a visibly improved quality of life in these areas will ensue. He is doing well on traffic decongestion but seems wanting in the basura problem.

Garbage is the ubiquitous devil in any community, and the city needs to give focus and priority to the incurable monster. The use of the Kalangitan landfill which charges fantastic tipping and hauling fee deplete city finances.

Orderly traffic and implementation of motoring regulations are being felt well by the residents. Proof of the traffic enforcers’ good work was the collection of more than P1 million from fines and other services, I was told.

One outstanding achievement of Mayor Blueboy for the year is the city’s sustained financial health. Increased tax collections through rigorous effort and aggressive pursuit of unregistered business operations resulted to high collection efficiency, according to councilor-lawyer reelectionist A. “Pogi” Suller.

I no longer read of any complaints these days about late or failure to remit real property taxes and tax credits to barangays. This means the city has a sound financial standing if not surplus funds.

Angelenos admire how Nepomuceno transformed the San Nicolas public market and the slaughterhouse, once egregious examples of project failures in the past administration into profitable economic enterprises.

The San Nicolas market built from a P300-million loan given the Lazatin administration can soon start raising funds to amortize the project. The slaughterhouse, with meager earning in past years, earned about 2 million last year to make it viable and efficacious to guarantee safe, clean, fresh meat in the market.

Dubbed as Central Luzon’s premier city, Angeles does not have its own Sports Complex and Convention Center. Mayor Blueboy should pursue building this facility, a standard infrastructure in any progressive city anywhere. Out-of-town PBA games cannot be played in the city for lack of a decent gym.

The city hall is doing well with satisfactory performance rate in crime prevention and solution by the police; in efficient public service delivery through the Citizen’s Charter now in force; in job and employment generation through the PESO.

Get rid of the basura problem, Mayor, and start building that Sports Complex as your legacy project.

Published in the Sun.Star Pampanga newspaper on July 6, 2009.