BACOLOR, Pampanga — The cat’s out of the bag. It’s neither the third district congressional seat nor the vice governorship for Engineer Ferdinand “Dinan” Labung but the mayorship of Bacolor.
“Today I declare categorically that I am running for mayor of Bacolor,” Labung said yesterday, ending speculations of the position he would seek in the 2010 elections.
It was earlier reported that Labung’s options tended to “50 percent for the mayorship, 25 percent for the House seat, and 25 percent for the vice governorship.”
“Iyampang ke ing sarili kung sumuyu karing kabalen ku bilang tune anak ning Baculud. (I offer myself to serve my townmates as a true son of Bacolor),” Labung told the Society of Pampanga Columnists, a group of local opinion makers, before whom he made his declaration to run for mayor, “100 percent.”
Last April 17, at his 50th birthday celebration in his home in Barangay Calibutbut here, some 3,000 guests awaited his declaration to run in 2010. Indeed, Labung said he would run but did not name the electoral post he would aspire for.
The call for the mayorship however was foremost in the minds of the guests as evidenced by the thunderous response to the debut performance of a song by Labung’s fellow alumni at the Don Honorio Ventura College of Arts and Trades, that had the refrain: “Panaun na, ing balen mangulila, panenayan na ka, nung epa ngeni, kapilan pa? (The time is now, the land in sorrow awaits you, if not now, when?).”
“There is much to be desired in the way the P1.5-billion rehabilitation program for Bacolor is being undertaken,” Labung said. “As an engineer and as a native of Bacolor, I would want the funds to be spent most rationally, efficiently and effectively.”
Labung questioned what he called an “apparent misprioritization of programs that could result to wastage.”
“Given the alteration of the topography of the town by the Mount Pinatubo eruptions and the lahar rampages, the first order of the day should have been topographic studies, and land surveys,” Labung said. “To just build infrastructures, like roads and buildings without regard to topography would be most unwise and can prove wasteful in the long run. For instance, the watercourses well-defined before Pinatubo could have been altered to new channels because of the change in topography. It’s waste of money, resources and time if a building or a road is built only to be hit by floodwaters.”
Labung batted for the tapping of local talents in the implementation of the Bacolor rehabilitation program.
“We have very good engineers, architects, surveyors, developers and builders from Bacolor. Their talents plus their inherent malasakit (concern) for the good of their town would be warranty for top-notch work,” Labung said.
Labung served as barangay chairman of San Antonio at age 29, and was two-term member of the Pampanga provincial board.
The other aspirants for the Bacolor mayorship are reportedly Vice Mayor Diman Datu, Cabalantian barangay chairman Jomar Hizon, and Ron-Ron Dungca, the 20-year-old son of incumbent Mayor Romeo “Buddy” Dungca.
“Today I declare categorically that I am running for mayor of Bacolor,” Labung said yesterday, ending speculations of the position he would seek in the 2010 elections.
It was earlier reported that Labung’s options tended to “50 percent for the mayorship, 25 percent for the House seat, and 25 percent for the vice governorship.”
“Iyampang ke ing sarili kung sumuyu karing kabalen ku bilang tune anak ning Baculud. (I offer myself to serve my townmates as a true son of Bacolor),” Labung told the Society of Pampanga Columnists, a group of local opinion makers, before whom he made his declaration to run for mayor, “100 percent.”
Last April 17, at his 50th birthday celebration in his home in Barangay Calibutbut here, some 3,000 guests awaited his declaration to run in 2010. Indeed, Labung said he would run but did not name the electoral post he would aspire for.
The call for the mayorship however was foremost in the minds of the guests as evidenced by the thunderous response to the debut performance of a song by Labung’s fellow alumni at the Don Honorio Ventura College of Arts and Trades, that had the refrain: “Panaun na, ing balen mangulila, panenayan na ka, nung epa ngeni, kapilan pa? (The time is now, the land in sorrow awaits you, if not now, when?).”
“There is much to be desired in the way the P1.5-billion rehabilitation program for Bacolor is being undertaken,” Labung said. “As an engineer and as a native of Bacolor, I would want the funds to be spent most rationally, efficiently and effectively.”
Labung questioned what he called an “apparent misprioritization of programs that could result to wastage.”
“Given the alteration of the topography of the town by the Mount Pinatubo eruptions and the lahar rampages, the first order of the day should have been topographic studies, and land surveys,” Labung said. “To just build infrastructures, like roads and buildings without regard to topography would be most unwise and can prove wasteful in the long run. For instance, the watercourses well-defined before Pinatubo could have been altered to new channels because of the change in topography. It’s waste of money, resources and time if a building or a road is built only to be hit by floodwaters.”
Labung batted for the tapping of local talents in the implementation of the Bacolor rehabilitation program.
“We have very good engineers, architects, surveyors, developers and builders from Bacolor. Their talents plus their inherent malasakit (concern) for the good of their town would be warranty for top-notch work,” Labung said.
Labung served as barangay chairman of San Antonio at age 29, and was two-term member of the Pampanga provincial board.
The other aspirants for the Bacolor mayorship are reportedly Vice Mayor Diman Datu, Cabalantian barangay chairman Jomar Hizon, and Ron-Ron Dungca, the 20-year-old son of incumbent Mayor Romeo “Buddy” Dungca.
