On his first few weeks in office, Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin II raised the hopes of the Angelenos by his laid out plans. He raised his goal and did away by trimming expenditures which were mostly politically driven. His fiscal management policy is shaped by his own lifestyle. He is first to arrive and the last to leave and can be reached in his office any day in a week. He is not fond of having a retinue of bodyguards. He is fond though of his prized pigeons which are taking his free time.
Mayor Jon Lazatin’s vision for Angeles City can’t be realized in three years but with his rolled sleeves and with the support of the business community plus the grassroots things are moving positively. In the first year of his administration, despite the global problems like the Middle East conflict, the city is witnessing more business activities. In around the city hall, the infinity area of the family progressed with the mushrooming of business establishments. Buildings of sorts like Dennis Uy’s data center which was recently visited no less by President Bongbong Marcos and Pampanga Governor Lilia ‘Nanay’ Pineda.
The migration of people coming from different provinces plus the dramatic increase of Koreans establishing residences was a bonanza to the city economy. The prosperity also cascaded to several barangays in the aside from Barangay Anunas. The high end restaurants and few hotels already reached Barangay Cutcut.
Retro. Angeles after world war ll was the most progressive among towns north of Manila, despite neighboring San Fernando was the capitol town and crossroad of commerce. It was because after the Japanese occupation more American servicemen arrived for rehabilitation of what was damaged by the recent war. Many were able to find work inside the American base, while the enterprising ones were able to set up businesses outside of the military installation. The type of businesses were mostly based on proximity. Kiosks and bars were initially set-up in the downtown area and gradually moved in the Balibago area. There was no institutionalized land use program.
The population balooned, and by early sixties then Congresswoman Juanita Lumanlan Nepomuceno worked for the chartering of the town into a city. Rafael Del Rosario Sr. was the last town mayor and the first city mayor of Angeles upon the approval of its charter in 1964. Del Rosario tapped his friend, Professor Emmanuel Yap, who was then head of the Congressional Economic Planning Office of the House of Representatives to draw the urban planning map of the city. The drawn urban renewal growth of the city was never implemented, because Del Rosario lost his bid in the following elections. Nonetheless, the coming years after that, the growth cannot be restrained.
