The Awards, A Reckoning

FROM the title itself, one could easily surmise what this piece is all about.

Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan has racked up a lot of recognition and citations since he re-assumed the mayorship three years ago. And they are no awards from fly-by-night, unknown or unimpressive bodies.

On the contrary, they are prestigious ones.

Most recent of which is the World Mayor Award (WMA) where Edpam ranked number eighth in a cast of 25 finalists all over the world.  The United Kingdom-based City Mayors Foundation (CMF), the international think tank for local government that spearheads the World Mayor Project and awards the World Mayor Prize.

The Prize, which has been given to honor mayors with the vision, passion and skills to make their cities incredible places to live in, work in and visit. The World Mayor Project aims to show what outstanding mayors can achieve and raise their profiles nationally and internationally.

Recent winners in the Philippines include: City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, ranked no. 4 in 2005; Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, ranked no. 4 in 2006; and, Marides Fernando of Marikina City, ranked no. 7 2008.

A description of Edpam in the World Mayor Award website states “since becoming Mayor of Angeles City in July 2010, Edgardo Pamintuan concentrated on improving the city’s health system, providing better education for all and investing in infrastructure. He has remained popular with residents who welcome improvements in drainage and environmental infrastructure, as well as work on healthcare and welfare, including education. Testimonials praise the mayor for specific achievements, including: being the first mayor to build a city college providing low-cost education; the planting of 200,000 trees with help from volunteers, which apparently will help avoid flooding; the cleaning of major drainages and for modernizing the city hospital, including installing dialysis facilities.”

It furthered “Edgardo Pamintuan has also maintained the confidence of business leaders, who believe that the mayor’s efforts in curbing graft and corruption are succeeding. The administration of Mayor Pamintuan has also been awarded the Seal of Good Housekeeping by the country’s Ministry of Local Government.”

CMF has been giving the award since 2004 to mayors who “excel in qualities like: honesty, leadership and vision, management abilities and integrity, social and economic awareness, ability to provide security and to protect the environment as well as the will and ability to foster good relations between communities from different cultural, racial and social backgrounds.”

+++++

The WMA is a feather in the cap for Edpam. It should be a source of pride for Angelenos and a reason for Filipinos to become more than just elated. It is one of the many awards he received the past few years.

Recent awards included the Seal of Good Housekeeping award from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for two consecutive years and the prestigious and most coveted Gawad Pamana ng Lahi award.

Angeles City also ranked number six nationwide in the implementation of the Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS).

Aside from the DILG awards, Pamintuan was recently named as one of the seven most outstanding mayors of the Philippines by Superbrands International, a prominent organization of product branding with presence in around 88 countries worldwide.

Rep. Carmelo Lazatin, who will contest Edpam in the mayoral race in May this year, has garnered some recognition too as a congressman and a former mayor. He was one of the Most Outstanding 30 Congressmen in the Philippines for three consecutive years by the Congress Magazine and Global News Network (GNN).

In 1998, he was given the title as the Most Outstanding Mayor by the Asosasyon ng Komentarista at Anawnser ng Pilipinas.

He was one of the 50 finalists too in the WMA in 2006, together with 12 other mayors from Asia.

+++++

Edpam’s various awards tell of the kind of performance the moustached mayor has been giving to his constituency since 2010.

They are something to reckon with by his detractors who look at the other way insofar as his administration is concerned. They somehow negate criticisms and allegations thrown at his leadership and governance.

Sterling as they are now, I need not make a rundown of what the mayor has done on various fronts in the past three years. What I could not pass up though is his healthcare program.

You see, my late mother died of renal failure after battling a dreaded kidney disease. I tell you, I know how it is to scour for very limited resources just to fund thrice-a-week dialysis. To say that it was stressful would be an understatement.

Eight years ago, there were no government-subsidized treatments or renal care facilities run by municipal or city administrations.  That brought us to the point of selling some appliances and jewelry just to get by.

Comes this Angeles City Renal Care Unit (ACRCU) that was established by the Pamintuan administration. My heart goes to those whose loved ones are in the same case as we were. And I could only feel relieved and happy for them too who could now don a smile, knowing they could be helped by facilities like ACRCU.

ACRCU has been of great help to 224 patients in 2012 which undergone about 10,500 treatments. It has 19 dialysis machines which according to the City Public Information Office is more than what Philippine General Hospital and National Kidney Center have, 10 and 7, respectively.