THE top two officials of Guagua town have agreed to bury the hatchet and team up in the 2019 elections.
This was disclosed by Mayor Dante Torres in a breakfast meeting he hosted for members of the Capampangan in Media, Inc. (CAMI) last Friday, October 19, at the town hall.
Torres said the incumbent vice mayor, Sajid Eusoof, will be his runningmate in the 2019 elections under the banner of Kambilan.
The two officials have been at loggerheads over various issues for more than two years now, the mayor recalled.
Torres has been meted a string of preventive suspension orders, probably making him the most suspended local chief executive in Pampanga.
Torres feels the unification will be a game changer for Guagua,
"I foresee less, if at all, friction in the local government transactions, less political bickerings and more focus on local governance," he said.
Guagua under Torres made it to the Hall of Fame in local governance, despite his series of preventive suspensions.
Torres said he looks forward to gaining more traction and headway in making Guagua an investment destination, an environment friendly and disaster-safe municipality and a prime fish industry hub.
He has started professionalizing the LGUs manpower through training, promotion and by providing opportunity for required and advance education through the town's college which he established under his term.
"We give our employees all the opportunities to improve themselves and make them more fit for the job they do and the kind of service our people expect from them," he said.
Torres is seeking a third and last term as mayor.
Above all, Torres hopes that Guagua will be well prepared for cityhood when he steps down in 2012.
"Our only problem now is population, which is less than the 150,000 residents the law require for a city," he said. Income and size requirements have been met, he added.
Guagua was already a prosperous settlment when the Spaniards took control of the town in 1561. Today, it has the highest bank deposits among all Pampanga towns, according Guagua top businessman Jess Nicdao.
It has produced prominent sons in religion, arts and politics like Rufino Cardinal Santos, playwright Aurelio Tolentino and Senator Gil J. Puyat, who was the Senate President during the Marcos administration.