OUT OF the reflected glory from his illustrious forebears, into the light on his own shines now Carmelo Gurion Lazatin, Jr. – Pogi to everyone – honorable mayor of Angeles City. His brilliance breaking through the pandemic gloom, giving full measure to that toughness of character ultimately tried and tested in the toughest of times – and thrived.
Indeed, 2021 defined Pogi Lazatin. His response to the coronavirus pandemic gave the essential meaning to leadership in a time of crisis.
Only into his second year as hizzoner, Lazatin still navigating the steep learning curve of government bureaucracy, the city – as all the nation and all the world – was thrust into the maw of the coronavirus pestilence.
With the strictest adherence to the stringent protocols set by the national inter-agency task force against Covid-19, Lazatin was unwavering in taking even the most unpopular decisions to contain the spread of the disease. Top case in point: the liquor ban in the bacchanalian capital that is Angeles City, even when the nearby areas have already eased booze restrictions!
What endeared him most, unarguably, and won the national government’s approving admiration have been the initiatives the city government pursued to achieve at the earliest possible time the then hoped-for herd immunity as best measure against the pandemic.
Mega vaccination centers were immediately established at the City College of Angeles and the Angeles City National High School where the residents, by priority groupings, trooped to be inoculated. That mandated LGU response, Lazatin blended with the “Sundo Bakuna sa Barangay” program that tapped six Philippine Rabbit Line buses and 10 jeepneys to fetch residents from their homes and take them to the vax sites.
Thence followed “Ronda Bakuna sa Barangay” with three buses configured as mobile vaccination clinics rolling out vaccines right at the villages. The bedridden and home-bound elderly were inoculated right at their residences.
After their round of the city’s 33 barangays, the Ronda mobile vax clinics served the Aeta communities, persons deprived of liberty at the city jail, and are regularly deployed at the city’s boundaries to serve even non-city residents.
“The only way to protect ourselves and our families from this dreaded disease is to get vaccinated. Kaya naman po kahit hindi residente ng siyudad, babakunahan po natin,” said Lazatin.
Hailed by the national IATF as “best practices” for other LGUs to replicate, both Ronda and Sundo programs have received the accolades of no less than the World Health Organization.
The city was also among the very first LGUs to achieve a jabbing rate of 10,000 vaccinees per day as attested by the National Vaccination Operation Center.
In December 2021, Angeles City was certified by the national IATF as having attained herd immunity, and awarded by the Department of the Interior and Local Government for being one of the 23 highly urbanized cities throughout the country that were first to achieve the feat.
To date, 373,343 Angeleños already received their first dose while 338,044 are already fully vaccinated. Ongoing booster rollouts have so far served 66,738 Angeleños.
On pediatric vaccination, a total of 4,961 kids aged 5 to 11 were already administered with their first dose; 45,299 in the 12 to 17 years-old bracket also got their first dose, while 42,912 are already fully vaccinated, as of this writing.
Equally impressive as the city’s vaccination success are its socio-economic interventions during the various quarantine periods attendant to the fight against Covid-19.
The house-to-house distribution of cash assistance and food packs to residents at the time of the stringent quarantine impositions has continued, with the added provision of Vitamin C and milk supplements to the elderly and the children.
Birthed by the strict protocols in the early days of the pandemic, the Angeleño First Facemask livelihood project where 120 seamstresses were hired by the city government continue to produce environment-friendly face masks and personal protective equipment designed – for free – by 17 renowned Angeleño designers.
Their products – totaling 11,000 PPEs and 145,000 face masks, to date – are donated to private hospitals in the city as well as to the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center.
The self-effacing Lazatin readily credits all city hall employees whom he mobilized as frontliners for the city’s success in addressing the coronavirus pandemic.
The greater focus given the Covid-19 response did not diminish any the city government’s pursuit of its development programs, projects, and services. Alas, the limits of the printed page constrained this narrative to but a minutiae of Lazatin’s vast achievements.
Health
Free and accessible health services to the public is a Lazatin legacy.
“Sa araw pong ito, matutupad na ang matagal ko nang pangarap at pangarap din ng aming ama, Mayor Tarzan Lazatin, na makapagpagawa ng mas malaki at mas makabagong ospital para sa mga Angeleños.”
So spoke Lazatin in November 2021, as he broke ground with brother 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Jon” Lazatin II for the P474-million four-storey building of the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center. The facility has also been allotted with P100 million for state-of-the-art medical equipment.
The RLMMC’s Obstetrical and Gynecological Department was granted Level 2 Status by the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society-Committee on Hospital Accreditation for Service in April 2021.
The door-to-door delivery of medicines to 3,327 senior citizens, PWDs, and indigent residents. In addition, from January to December 2021, 5,229 free medicines were availed of at the medicine dispensary unit of city hall, even as all six rural health units and 28 sub-health centers that Lazatin revitalized upon his assumption of office continued to receive and dispense regular medical and medicine supplies from the city.
The Puso Center also remains operational, serving 850 Angeleños for free check-ups and 8,955 for animal bite treatment; and undertaking 35 minor surgeries.
Education
With the shift to studying-at-home amid the pandemic, the city distributed 61,200 tablets for 55,000 Grades 4 to 12 students and 3,000 school teachers in 53 public schools, and 3,200 scholars in the City College of Angeles, allotting P209 million for the program.
A total of P20 million was also allocated for installing access points for free WiFi connection in the city’s 33 barangays to further help students and teachers with their online classes.
Presently being constructed are additional classrooms, laboratory, and canteen at the CCA with an allotment of P210 million, and a separate additional wing with 20 classrooms using the P50-million donation of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
To complement the readiness of public schools’ facilities and infrastructure once face-to-face learning is implemented, a total of P5 million was set aside for the repair of day-care centers and classrooms; P12 million to purchase air conditioning units and television sets for all 76 day-care centers; and P30 million from the Local School Board fund for 2021 for the repair of public elementary schools, including comfort rooms, and construction of additional classrooms for public high schools.
Social welfare
The largest rescue operation of displaced families, street children, homeless individuals, and mentally challenged people from the streets covered 271 individuals – 179 minors and 92 adults – who were given food assistance, and returned to their families around the city and in Porac town, Mabalacat City, and in the provinces of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.
To date, 18 mentally challenged individuals were referred for treatment to partner mental institutions, 15 of whom were discharged in 2021.
At the height of the pandemic, Bale Pusu, the home for homeless female elderly, was opened and initially housed three seniors. Bahay Pag-Asa, the city’s reformation center for male youths currently housing 87, is set for complete rehabilitation to make it a model in juvenile intervention. The Home for Girls, which houses 39 to date, is also a priority program of the city government.
The city has tapped the help of the Department of Education for the alternative learning system and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for the training of housed children in conflict with the law.
The city social welfare and development office assisted 142 women survivors of trafficking and 212 victims under the Anti-Violence against Women and Children Act. Anti-VAWC desks at the barangay level were activated where 26 women requested for free legal assistance.
Infrastructure
Aside from the ongoing construction of the P474-million medical facility at the RLMMC and the P260-million additional facilities and classrooms at the CCA, major infrastructure projects undertaken by the city are the newly inaugurated P23-million Pulung Cacutud Bridge and the P150-million EPZA Diversion Road aimed to decongest the Angeles-Magalang Road. The city government and the Office of 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Jonjon” Lazatin worked hand-in-hand for this diversion roadway project.
The city government also started to install bike pathways along MacArthur Highway in a bid to promote a bike-friendly city.
Gawang Angeleño
Promote our own. Gawang Angeleño products are exempted from the P500 administrative fee at the One Town One Product store to assist the local merchants establish “Pasal-One, Angeleño Pa.” From 12 member-merchants in 2020, OTOP now houses 18 local MSMEs, with earnings totaling to P744,903 in 2021 given wholly to the local merchants.
The Angeleño café “Kapebaluan” is brewing soon in a bid to assist the local farmers. The 200 kilos of green Arabica coffee beans grown by the farmers were purchased by the city government and will be used at the café. The café will also have books, especially for references.
As much for the local MSMEs is the promotion of the city government of the local artists. Lazatin has personally written to all shopping malls and business establishment with ample spaces in the city to provide the artists venues for the exhibit of their works, even as the city government regularly stands as sponsor to these exhibits.
No other mayor has done as much for the advancement of the local art cause than Lazatin, said the artists themselves.
Environment
“Walang Plastikan – Plastik Palit Bigas” – a plastic-to-rice exchange project launched only recently resulted to the collection of 14,000 items of plastic residual wastes to be sold to a cement company. The city’s transfer station for waste was also put in order from Barangay Pampang to Barangay Mining, through the city engineer’s office.
The Angeles City Watershed in Barangay Sapangbato is undergoing renewed mass reforestation with the participation of all city hall employees. No less than 12,962 seedlings of assorted forest and fruit-bearing trees have been planted to date.
The strict enforcement of environmental regulations such as no smoking, anti-littering, open burning, plastic ordinance, solid waste management, and illegal cutting of trees netted P172,500 in fines.
Animal welfare
Pet lives matter. To encourage fur parents on responsible pet ownership, free spaying and neutering services have been made available at the city veterinary office since 2020 when 671 pets underwent the process. The number stood at 578 in 2021, and 973 from January 2022 to date.
A total of 30,816 pets received free anti-rabies vaccination – 23,536 dogs and 7,275 cats – conducted by the city vet house-to-house in the 33 barangays.
At the city hall’s “No Kill” Animal Pound, 131 rescued animals are up for adoption. The pound is undergoing construction, with P10 million allotted by the city government. This is to give comfort and shelter to animals.
Through the adoption program, a total 78 pets already found their new homes. The city veterinary staff is in regular monitoring of the new fur parents to ensure their pets are being taken care of.
Drug-cleared
Twice in a row, the DILG recognized the Angeles City LGU for its anti-drug programs “with high functionality” based on the audit of the Anti-Drug Abuse Council-Functionality Monitoring System.
The city has an 80% success rate in terms of rehabilitation programs for drug surrenderees, with the establishment in 2020 of the Balay Silangan Reformation Center, the first of its kind in Pampanga. The city’s reformation program aims to give a second chance to drug surrenderees with job opportunities, and reintegrating them with their families and communities.
Presently, the center has 33 in-patient clients being assisted in the rehabilitation treatment shouldered by the city government. Even their families are being looked after by the city with milk supplements to their children.
ADAC-Angeles City further provides support groups, seminars, and other comprehensive activities such as counseling, lectures, outreach programs, tree-planting, and family intervention.
Apart from this, the 33 barangay ADACs are functional and activated through the realization of the community-based reformation center that will provide trainings and livelihood for drug law offenders – such as basket weaving training and aircon maintenance training. In 2021, 187 drug offenders graduated from the Balay Silangan.
Out of the 33 barangays, five barangays were already drug-cleared: Mining, Sto. Rosario, Virgen Delos Remedios, Cuayan, and Margot; 10 barangays are pending, while four other barangays are also undergoing drug-clearing process.
Finance
Where other LGUs sputtered with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Angeles City continued its stride in fiscal excellence, placing 6th nationwide with 130.9% collection efficiency, surpassing the Locally Sourced Revenue collections of P1.08 million to P1.41 million.
In 2021, Angeles City recorded an income from local sources of P2,332,379,301.33.
The city also exceeded by 10% its target income of P230 million for Real Property Tax collection with an actual income of P254,30,066.18.
In October 2021 the city launched the online payment for RPT as part of its Ease of Doing Business program. The city council led by Vice Mayor Vicenta Vega-Cabigting, approved Resolution No. 9081, Series of 2020 authorizing Lazatin to enter into and sign a MOA for the adoption of an Electric Payment and Collection System (EPCS) in facilitating payments for local government unit-imposed taxes.
The positive revenue income manifests the growing confidence of the business sector in the Lazatin administration which has motivated it to further improve its tax collection scheme, and not to increase the business taxes.
Recognition
Aside from the accolades it received from the DILG, the WHO and the national IATF for its outstanding Covid-19 response, its collection efficiency, and its anti-drug campaign, the city government was also given recognition in other aspects of governance.
The Department of Trade and Industry declared Angeles City as Top 5 in the Most Improved HUC (Highly Urbanized City) in the Competitiveness Index for 2021.
The city also maintained its ISO Certification of Processing and Issuance of Business Permit through a third-party audit conducted by the Certification International Philippines, Inc. on May 3, 2021 and November 16 – 17, 2021, respectively.
Angeles City was also cited for its anti-corruption integrity by the United Nations International Anti-Corruption Day Organizing Committee in South Korea.
The International Justice Mission, the world’s largest international anti-slavery organization, awarded the city for the Lazatin administration’s putting premium on the safety and welfare of children. This came with a grant awarded by the US Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to protect children in the Philippines.
In August 2021, the Civil Service Commission bestowed on the city its Prime HRM Bronze Award.
Amid the pandemic, the city also received an award for supporting the shift to online education from the Department of Education.
Grounded on solid accomplishments duly recognized by various instrumentalities of the national government and even international bodies, the choice of Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr., mayor of Angeles City, as Man of the Year of Punto! Central Luzon is a foregone certainty. With the Punto E-Team
