QUICK WAS the response of Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan to my last column. Here it is in full:
Dear Pareng Bong,
With respect to your “UnravelED” (Punto Central Luzon, July 8, 2010), I would like to make the following clarifications:
As I’ve stated during the press conference last Thursday, July 1, Mr. Ave Laquindanum is a volunteer and will never occupy any appointive position in the city government of Angeles during my term. That I will assure you.
Mr. Deo Sambilay, the moderator of that press conference, has accepted my offer to be the deputy of the City Information Office (CIO) days before my inauguration. I believe he was happy with his job and he is doing very well. He was never castigated before, during or even after that press conference. We all feel that the said press conference was very successful. There was no instruction or plan to “control” the media.
I never promised a committee chairmanship to any city councilor. That is the sole prerogative of the city council especially the majority bloc, and as of now, Team Agyu Tamu is the minority in the council. Hence, the other side controls the chairmanship of the committees.
As to personnel allocation, all the councilors will be given their legal and appropriate shares in the number of staff and even job orders. But at present, we have not yet appointed or reappointed a single job order personnel, and we will remain steadfast to our commitment that job orders will never be ghost employees but active staff of concrete projects and programs with clear objectives.
The so-called “Pamintuan Team” you refer to (which I assume is my transition team formed a month ago) has ceased to exist. Team Pamintuan is now the entire City Government of Angeles.
Rest assured that proper consultations will be done with all departments and offices in city hall as well as all the concerned sectors before we act on matters that will affect them. I will continue to adhere to proper procedures and democratic processes.
Finally, let me reiterate my commitment to media – my administration will always look to free press as a friend and ally, and an instrument of positive and progressive change.
(But let me just say, Pareng Bong, that I was never aware of the “anti-media” statement Mr. Laquindanum allegedly made in 2007 as a “rabid dog,” as you put it in your column, of Among Ed Panlilio. Don’t you think it is quite unfair to heap on me all the hatred and dirt just because of a comment made by a person years ago, with whom I have not been associated with until he volunteered to help me last elections?)
(As to your ‘queso de bola’ comment, I assure you my friend that you have not touched a raw nerve in me, precisely because it is not true, as Mr. Laquindanum obviously did on you three years ago. Cheers, my friend!)
Sincerely,
Ed Pamintuan
Against my better judgment and the direct testimony made to me by those concerned, at the risk of alienating my sources, I take the mayor for his word. On this one, at least.
I just wonder what made him conclude that my column was “…to heap on me all the hatred and dirt just because of a comment made by a person years ago, with whom I have not been associated with until he volunteered to help me last elections…”
“UnravelED” is plain and simple fair comment on official action, if I may remind you, Sir. Nothing personal, as I wrote, everything political.
Double cheers, my friend.
Dear Pareng Bong,
With respect to your “UnravelED” (Punto Central Luzon, July 8, 2010), I would like to make the following clarifications:
As I’ve stated during the press conference last Thursday, July 1, Mr. Ave Laquindanum is a volunteer and will never occupy any appointive position in the city government of Angeles during my term. That I will assure you.
Mr. Deo Sambilay, the moderator of that press conference, has accepted my offer to be the deputy of the City Information Office (CIO) days before my inauguration. I believe he was happy with his job and he is doing very well. He was never castigated before, during or even after that press conference. We all feel that the said press conference was very successful. There was no instruction or plan to “control” the media.
I never promised a committee chairmanship to any city councilor. That is the sole prerogative of the city council especially the majority bloc, and as of now, Team Agyu Tamu is the minority in the council. Hence, the other side controls the chairmanship of the committees.
As to personnel allocation, all the councilors will be given their legal and appropriate shares in the number of staff and even job orders. But at present, we have not yet appointed or reappointed a single job order personnel, and we will remain steadfast to our commitment that job orders will never be ghost employees but active staff of concrete projects and programs with clear objectives.
The so-called “Pamintuan Team” you refer to (which I assume is my transition team formed a month ago) has ceased to exist. Team Pamintuan is now the entire City Government of Angeles.
Rest assured that proper consultations will be done with all departments and offices in city hall as well as all the concerned sectors before we act on matters that will affect them. I will continue to adhere to proper procedures and democratic processes.
Finally, let me reiterate my commitment to media – my administration will always look to free press as a friend and ally, and an instrument of positive and progressive change.
(But let me just say, Pareng Bong, that I was never aware of the “anti-media” statement Mr. Laquindanum allegedly made in 2007 as a “rabid dog,” as you put it in your column, of Among Ed Panlilio. Don’t you think it is quite unfair to heap on me all the hatred and dirt just because of a comment made by a person years ago, with whom I have not been associated with until he volunteered to help me last elections?)
(As to your ‘queso de bola’ comment, I assure you my friend that you have not touched a raw nerve in me, precisely because it is not true, as Mr. Laquindanum obviously did on you three years ago. Cheers, my friend!)
Sincerely,
Ed Pamintuan
Against my better judgment and the direct testimony made to me by those concerned, at the risk of alienating my sources, I take the mayor for his word. On this one, at least.
I just wonder what made him conclude that my column was “…to heap on me all the hatred and dirt just because of a comment made by a person years ago, with whom I have not been associated with until he volunteered to help me last elections…”
“UnravelED” is plain and simple fair comment on official action, if I may remind you, Sir. Nothing personal, as I wrote, everything political.
Double cheers, my friend.
