WHAT do Mayors Edgardo Pamintuan and Marino Morales of Angeles City and Mabalacat City, respectively, have in common?
For one, they are both in their last terms of office. Or so Mayor Boking says of his. Mayor Ed, definitely is in his last of the three consecutive terms allowed by law.
Doesn’t the law apply to the former, you may ask? Well, I did not say that. I would say that by virtue of legalities or even technicalities in legal issues that confronted Mayor Boking, he is now the longest serving local chief executive in the country.
I would not dare go to specifics anymore. But from what I can remember, the odds favored him which gave him legal victories. Thus, renewable terms of office.
What else do they have in common? Bedan buddies, rose to power in the early 1990s, the list goes on,
What else? They are both out there to prove something more.
For Mayor Edpam who is very much aligned with President Duterte, he will be on a warpath towards helping eradicate illegal drugs.
This is something that the lawyer-turned-mayor (just like P/Rody) would really have to put priority on. Last March, there was a raid on shabu lab in one city subdivision that yielded P1.1 billion worth of “liquid shabu.”
In his recent inaugural speech at Marquee Mall, Mayor Edpam vowed to make the premier city as drug-free while unrelenting against criminality. The planned Command Center, which will monitor not just traffic but suspicious activities on the streets, will definitely be a boost to his campaign for the next three years.
The Superbrands’ three-time Most Outstanding Mayor has also pledged zero tolerance on corruption and red tape in the transactions of the city government.
We will also be expecting him to really rally behind the utilization of Clark as a premier gateway by at least helping bring in more domestic flights (for a start). This, he can do so as he is the incoming president of League of Cities of the Philippines and an active participant in the Regional Development Council.
With President Duterte returning the favor of supporting him in the last elections, Angeles City would go a long way in the next three years.
For Angeles City, change is indeed coming. And it will be "better than ever! Better than best!" according to the multi-awarded mayor.
For Mayor Boking, the plan to put up a Renal Care Center will be added to his legacy.
This is one project that will benefit those who cannot afford dialysis in private hospitals. And there is an increasing number of them in Mabalacat City and elsewhere.
This is one undertaking where George Samson, president of World Medical Relief, Inc., can come in. He has helped Angeles City put up its own thru donation of dialysis machines and other equipment at the Ospital Ning Angeles. I can’t see any reason why he would not do the same for Mayor Boking who is a common friend of the two mayors.
Mayor Boking’s announcement to build a new public market is a welcome move too.
The city’s public market is really in bad state and definitely needs a facelift. It also has to move somewhere as it is currently located right smack at the center of an intersection that causes huge traffic.
The mayor has to do something about that deteriorating traffic in the Sta. Ines-Clark intersection of Macarthur Highway. He has to clear it with encroachments, implement truck ban if he wants order in that area.