WHEELCHAIR DISTRIBUTION. Vice-Mayor Vega-Cabigting hands to Lazatin resolution nominating him to MOKA. Looking on are Mayor Pamintuan (center) and members of the Angeles City Council.
ANGELES CITY – The mayors of this city and nearby Mabalacat openly endorsed 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin for the 2011 Most Outstanding Kapampangan Award (MOKA) in public service, stressing the recognition “is long overdue.”
“Congressman Tarzan is hands down MOKA winner. We should have given him that award a long time ago,” said Mabalacat Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales.
Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, for his part, said “Tarzan Lazatin deserves all the accolades for being a genuine public servant.”
“He has given a real meaning to the ‘ditak a salita, dakal a gawa’ (short in talk, long in deeds) theme attributed to him,” added Pamintuan.
A group of local journalists and Morales are set to formally nominate Lazatin to the MOKA committee.
The MOKA awards night is the culmination of the Pampanga Day week-long celebration set in December.
On Tuesday, the Angeles City council approved a resolution nominating Lazatin as the “most outstanding Kapampangan in the field of government service.” It is authored by Councilors Edu Pamintuan, Maricel Morales, Alex Indiongco and Jericho Aguas.
“In his almost three decades of public service, (Lazatin) contributed positively in the socio-economic development of Angeles City during his tenure as city mayor from 1998 to 2007,” said the resolution signed by Vice Mayor Vicky Vega-Cabigting.
“Lazatin sought to improve the plight of many poor families: he implemented an on-site socialized housing program which benefited more than 15,000 families.
He reduced red tape and promoted transparency, causing the computerization of the city’s Business Licensing Permit Office and worked for the awarding of ISO Certification of the said office,” it added.
“Within nine years of leadership in the City of Angeles from 1998 to 2007, he improved the services and physical structure of Rafael Lazatin Memorial Hospital; caused the construction of a three-storey Angeles City Library & Information Center Building, the three-floor San Nicolas Market, the Rafael Lazatin National High School, the Circumferential Road, among others,” it said.
