On a collision course

A FEW days ago, a major announcement rocked the political realm in the kingdom of Angeles City and in its neighboring towns of the 1st District of the Pampanga. This was the declaration of the seasoned public servant Congressman Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin to run as a mayor in this bustling city on the northwestern side of the province.

Surprised to this avowal were Apung Tarzan’s leaders and supporters in the district he now serves. Mabalacat and Magalang residents now lose their rights to vote the veteran politician primarily because he will be no longer seeking re-election for his last term as the representative of the said district.

Meanwhile, Angelenos wait for the real battle by next year on what they dubbed as a collision course between two major political icons of the city.

Apung Tarzan is known to be a term-ender who maintains a record of no defeat, no draw and several knockouts against his political opponents. He maintains a very colorful political career and despite his age, he is still at the prime of his career as a politico par excellence.

Prior to his being to his public position now, he was the mayor himself of Angeles and during his term came various programs and projects that benefited the marginalized sector of the city. He has initiated the construction of various infrastructure facilities for the city that are worthy to people’s need until today.

In his nine-year stint as the local chief executive, he has instituted many reforms and changes redounding to the welfare of the city’s residents.

After ending his term as a city mayor, he was given the mandate by not only Angelenos but also those from Mabalacat and Magalang. This time, he was elected as the representative and he is on his second term now.

As a record holder of being a term-ender, many Angelenos and those from the district he represents were surprised that Apung Tarzan would not be ending his term as a congressman and has instead opt to slide down to run for the city mayoralty by next year. As a statesman, he was expected to retire from his political career as a congressman and not as a city mayor.

Surprisingly also was the fact that he will be fighting it out with an ally, the equally performing incumbent city mayor Ed Pamintuan.

On Edpam, he too has a lot of programs and projects in the city to showcase to the whole world. As a matter of fact, he was nominated to become the one of the best mayors in the world in the 2012 World Mayor Prize.

Unfazed, he plans to pursue his administration’s thrust of bringing out the best of the service of the city hall to the people. In fact, when the announcement came out, he was in the United States facilitating donations for the city’s health programs through the World Medical Relief Inc (WMRI).

EdPam has to boast too some of his pet projects such as the City College of Angeles City and the Dialysis Unit of the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center that now cater dialysis patients from Angeles City and some neighboring towns.

Definitely, EdPam is so focused on his job as the city’s chief executive and looks far away from the coming election next year. At the moment, he does things what he has to for the the welfare of Angelenos.

As of this writing, it was said that the plans of Apung Tarzan of challenging EdPam is final and will be execute next year. The final confirmation however will be by October of this year when political aspirants will file their Certificates of Candidacy.

Meanwhile, some are happy, some are sad, some are confused, some were left with question marks and expectedly, some will switch horses.