ANGELES CITY- The alliance of the two most prominent political dynasties in this city will spell their doom.
With the powerful Lazatin and Nepomuceno political clans reconciling and virtually ganging up on him, Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan expressed yesterday confidence of victory in the 2013 local polls.
“In the 12 long years that they held the rein of the city, Angeles stagnated,” said Pamintuan who is seeking re-election under his newly formed local party Partido Abe Kapampangan (ABE). He was referring to the second generation of the two powerful families.
Two generations of the Nepomucenos and Lazatins have been known as traditional political adversaries in this city.
First District Rep. Carmelo Lazatin has abandoned plans for a third term in Congress and opted to run for mayor against Pamintuan.
This, even as Pamintuan declared support for the congressional bid of Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao in the first district, which Lazatin said was a factor in his decision to seek the mayorship.
Former first district congressman and former mayor Francis Nepomuceno has confirmed that he and Lazatin would be allies in the 2013 polls. Nepomuceno, who was defeated by Pamintuan in the mayoral race in 2010, will run for Congress against Guiao.
Lazatin said he would run as independent candidate, with no vice mayor and only five candidates for the city council.
Pamintuan said that the alliance between Lazatin and Nepomuceno would only highlight their lack of accomplishments in Angeles.
“For 12 years, Angeles stagnated under them, overtaken by smaller cities such as San Fernando (Pampanga), Malolos (Bulacan) and even Dasmarinas City (Cavite) which used to be a resettlement area like Palayan City,” he said.
“I can’t imagine two persons filing charges against each other, hating each other, and now proclaiming themselves a perfect team,” Pamintuan said.
”I am ready to face battle,” he stressed.
This, even as Pamintuan announced more plans for the poor should he be re-elected next year, as he cited the P20-million development of Angeles’ first public cemetery.
He also cited plans to purchase more lands to provide housing to urban poor, even as some 18,000 informal settlers in this city recently received titles to the lands they have been occupying for years.
Pamintuan said that from his present administration’s slogan “Agyu Tamu (We can do it)”, his next term would adopt “Sulapo Tamu (Let’s fly up)” as its slogan.
