I WAS rummaging in my old closet, and look what I found. Old newspapers. Copies of Pampanga Newsweek published and edited by Tom San Pedro, Pampanga Eagle of Ram Mercado, Pampanga Times of Jose Reyes and The Voice of Armando P. Baluyut.
THROWBACK: I grew up with Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Me and m friends in Porac and barkadas in Angeles City were not really affected by the rivalry of then President Carlos P. Garcia of Bohol and Vice President Diosdado Macapagal of Pampanga, but were all admiration on President John F. Kennedy of the United States of America. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino of Tarlac, Ferdinand E. Marcos of Ilocos Norte and Gerardo Roxas of Capiz were the rising political stars. They were the senators when senators were real senators.
Charito Solis, Gloria Romero and Paraluman were the model pin-up girls on calendars. Fernando Poe Jr., Romeo Vasquez, Lou Salvador Jr. were screen idols.
Gabriel “Flash” Elorde vs. Harold Gomes fought at the new Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. Elorde knocked out Gomes in the first round and won the world junior lightweight crown.
The exchange rate was two pesos to one US dollar, and money scrips were still legal tender in cities like Angeles and Olongapo. Miguel Cuaderno was the Central Bank governor. Henry Sy was selling shoes in Carriedo Street near the Quiapo church. Plaza Miranda in front of the church was London's Hyde Park where political meetings were held. There were no party list members of the House of Representatives. The Senators were brilliant and honorable. There were no pork barrels for lawmakers, and Janet Napoles may not have been born yet.
“Upong dyes lang po” was a sign below the rear view mirrors of jeepneys. There were few buses plying in Metro Manila. The buses plying Pampanga were the La Mallorca Pambusco of Geronimo “Hitler” Enriquez and the Philippine Rabbit owned by the Buan and Paras families of Tarlac.
There was no North Luzon Expressway yet, but President Macapagal in 1962 tasked the Bureau of Public Highways to build the highway. There were no tricycles yet, but horse drawn calesas.
That was the early ‘60s. It was in those years that I started writing a weekly column in Apung Mandong’s the Voice which I titled ‘Max L. Sangil Writes’. Here’s one article that was published in the January 13-19, 1980 issue. The local elections were not in May but in February. So what you will read is an article written a month before electorates will troop to the polls:
“Every politician has his own strong belief that he will emerge as the victor, and that he will hold the rein in the next six years. For instance, political neophyte Carmelo Lazatin will bet everything except his balls that he will make it over Lorenzo Timbol, Francisco Nepomuceno and Antonio Abad Santos.
“Lazatin knows his cards and places his bets and it’s all in when the odds are in his favor. Former Governor Nepomuceno on the other hand, is an old hand in the political game and knows too well in which track he can run. He believes that in all his political contests there was never an instance the Angeles voters failed him.
“A young lawyer, a new face and untarnished, Atty. Lorenzo Timbol stands in between to two popular surnames in local politics. Timbol is viewed as a good alternative to the arch rivals and ever quarrelling Lazatin and Nepomuceno. Abad Santos has still wax in the ears and stands a little chance.”