The other Lazatin

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    LAZATIN – THE congressman – has made himself a political legend in his own time. His avuncular visage so exudes so much kindness and benevolence that kids from 9 to 92 see Santa Claus in him.

    That, for good reasons, not necessarily Christmassy. Cong Tarzan, sans sleigh and Rudolph, the whole year through distributing gifts to his constituents – from roads, bridges, and school buildings, to service vehicles, livelihood projects, scholarship grants, health and social services.

    And Cong Tarzan too – as we have noted here from time to time – takes top billing at the House with legislation that accrue to benefits for the people way beyond the first district of Pampanga.

    A tough act to follow is Cong Tarzan, hands down.Yet another Lazatin though has started on his very path – Councilor Jimmy of the City of San Fernando, ready, willing, and most able to rise to greater heights.

    Now in his third term, Jimmy has made the education and youth welfare as both official advocacy and personal commitment.

    Just last month, on the occasion of his 66th birthday, Mayor Oscar S. Rodriguez hailed as the “greatest gift” he has received not only for himself but “moreso, for all Fernandinos” the donation of a two-hectare lot by the Lazatin and Panlilio families for a permanent campus of the City College.

    What Jimmy convinced his family to donate was not just any two-hectare lot but prime land abutting the North Luzon Expressway, and adjacent to the Home Depot.

    The City College, Rodriguez said, is one“surety for the future of poor but deserving young Fernandinos.” Thereby lies the significance, the magnanimity of the donation of the Lazatin and Panlilio families.

    “A sense of duty long inhered in our families.” That was Jimmy being matter-of-factly on the donation.

    “With a permanent site comes now the impetus for the infrastructure and the facilities of the college to the fullest possible extent as a center of learning, as a font of professionalism,” Lazatin enthused, committing himself to that task.

    An initiative in the eco-education grid Jimmy completely immersed himself in is the recycling of discarded and scrapped lumber from demolished school houses into school desks, tables and cabinets.

    “We save not only much needed funds but also the trees that otherwise would have been cut for the desks and the other school furniture,” Jimmy said. One great idea in practice there.

    A great leap in the protection and promotion of the well-being of children is last week’s approval at the city council of the Welfare Code for the Children of the City of San Fernando.

    Jimmy, principal advocate of the code, said this will strengthen the campaign for child protection at the  grassroots level.

    Specifically with the empowerment of the Barangay Councils for the Protection of Children and the Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention Network mandated with the data gathering, reporting and processing of child abuse cases and incidents in the city.

    Jimmy stressed that the code also covers other concerns like the poor performance of students and nutrition problems among students through the institutionalization of the Early Childhood Care and Development System.

    The ECCDS is a national program that addresses the psycho-social, health, nutritional and education needs of children aged 3-6 years for their proper development as “the country’s future human capital.”

    “By this code, we institutionalize the Local Council for the Protection of Children, which will be the consultative assembly for periodic planning, programming, assessment and evaluation of programs/projects for the children
    of the city,” Jimmy said, noting it is yet another manifestation of the performance governance system which has earned national acclaim and international recognition for the city government.

    And with this, add now “child-friendly” to “most business-friendly” city to the attributes of San Fernando.

    While still some way behind the congressman in his legacy of service, Jimmy though is well on his way to making his mark. On his own. In the heart of the Fernandino.

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