ANGELES CITY -- Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan on Saturday urges his constituents for a "people power" to fight sanitary and health woes in their city.
"In two weeks time, there will be people power in this city for cleanliness," he said.
In an exclusive interview with Sun.Star Pampanga, Pamintuan said good-hearted and concerned Angeleños will heed the call and join in the movement's two core advocacies, the Save Sapang Balen Creek and the Zero Waste Taskforce.
"It will be volunteerism again just like what we did in 1992 when lahar threatened us here. That time, 25,000 Angeleños got together to pack 250,000 protective sandbags," he added.
"The previous administration created their own version of Smokey Mountain near the Pampanga Market and Ospital Ning Angeles. Just imagine the threat it poses to our constituents' health as well as its resulting sanitary problems," he said.
"Because we have no money as our budget for 2010 is almost depleted, I requested some friends to help us solve this growing problem. They responded overwhelmingly by lending the City Government 28 trucks with drivers. Ang sagot lang ng city dito ay iyung diesel and the meals of the truck drivers," he said as he showed a schedule of trips.
Based on that list, the volunteers have made so far 261 trips recently, but have not, according to Pamintuan, slashed the four-month-old mountain of trash.
"We are still negotiating with Kalangitan on the P63 million debt of the previous administration. But we have to do something about this now. It poses serious health and sanitation risks to Angeleños. There are so many problems left by the past administration. I call on all Angeleños na magtulungan tayo like before and not leave it to the City Government alone," he said.
Pamintuan added that Archdiocese of San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David has signified his intention to join in the crusade for cleanliness and health.
"In fact, Bishop Ambo will join us in a waste management workshop soon. This will be a collaborative effort of the good Bishop and the City Government. I urge Angeleños to join this 'people power' to rid ourselves of these problems," Pamintuan concluded. (Jovi T. De Leon)