ANGELES CITY -- Fifty days before its golden anniversary celebration as a city, the local government here is set to launch and reveal its month-long activities with a kick-off party on Thursday, 3 p.m., in front of the Angeles City Library.
The launch, dubbed as "Limampulung Aldo bayu ing Limampulung Banua" (Fifty days before the Fiftieth Year), will showcase Angeleños talents in several cultural and modern aspects, all set around a golden theme.
Participants who will join the festivities along Sto. Entierro will include drum beaters, cosplayers, bikers, skaters, kite flyers and arnis enthusiasts.
According to Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, the city is in for grand celebration and the Angeleños should expect several activities and events that would celebrate heritage, culture and appreciation of Angeles’ cityhood.
“Our city has gone a long way in the past fifty years, and with this celebration, we shall celebrate this important milestone together,” Pamintuan said.
“As the mayor, I am very grateful that we made it to the 50th year. However, we are also very aware of the responsibility that entails this commemoration, which is why we are making it very special so that everyone can appreciate being an Angeleño,” he explained.
On January 4, a city-wide float parade will run through the streets of Angeles, which will then be followed by a music and dance festival on the 18th at the Angeles University Foundation Sports and Cultural Center.
On January 24 at the Museo ning Angeles, the city is set to launch “Angeles City Kanita at Ngeni “, a book that will vividly document and recall the city’s vibrant history.
To engage the citizens in nostalgia, a memorabilia exhibit will run on January 20 – 24 also at the Museo. Finally, on the 25th, the newest Mutya ning Angeles, a pageant celebrating the beauty, integrity and intelligence of Angeleñas, will be crowned in Mutya Gold.
Pamintuan also emphasized on the beautification of the city’s heritage district with the construction of Plaza Anghel that will make visitors appreciate the historical buildings along a commercial complex, landscaped gardens with benches, and a “walking street”.
Angeles City was inaugurated on January 1, 1964 as a chartered city under Republic Act No. 3700 and then entered a period of tremendous growth that has resulted in its present position as the "Premier City in Central Luzon."
It was then Mayor Rafael Del Rosario's brainchild that Angeles became a city.
Del Rosario gained the distinction of being the last municipal mayor of Angeles.
He was assisted in the preparation of the City Charter by Attorney Enrique Tayag, a prominent resident of the town. Congresswoman Juanita L. Nepomuceno of the first district of Pampanga sponsored the bill in Congress, which was approved by then President Diosdado Macapagal, the ninth Philippine president and a native of the province of Pampanga.