Angeles City mayor is new LCP prexy

(UPDATED, 6:25 P.M.) ANGELES City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan has been elected as president of the 145-strong League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP).

Pamintuan was elected during the 63rd General Assembly and 11th National Election of Officers held Friday at the Crowne Plaza Galleria in Quezon City.

He was nominated by Mabalacat City Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales during the election of officers.

Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano was elected as League Chairman while Balanga City Francis Garcia was elected secretary general.

Pamintuan, Cayetano, Garcia and all LCP 2016-2019 officers were selected unanimously by all the city mayors who attended the assembly in a formal resolution presented to outgoing LCP president Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and secretary general Mayor Del De Guzman of Marikina City.

As new LCP president, Pamintuan vows to cooperate with the directives of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to eliminate drugs, corruption and criminality in the country.

In his acceptance speech, Pamintuan emphasized the programs he will strongly push for, beginning with the waging of an all-out war against drugs, where he will adopt the double barrel standard of PNP Chief General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.

The new LCP president also wishes to conduct a national campaign to promote federalism, which, he believes, “would allow us autonomy, better utilization of our resources, and more equitable benefits from local taxes and revenues.”

Pamintuan also hopes for an increase in the salaries of police and teachers. While he acknowledges that this may take time to achieve, considering the processes it would take to tap on tha national budget, he believes “local governments can help fill the gap through the adjustments of allowances we give to policemen and teachers drawn from local funds, without being hampered by restrictions from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Department of Education (DepEd) rules.”

Realizing the need to seriously look into multi-billion scams and scandals, the LCP president aims to launch a no-nonsense crackdown on corruption and red tape in localities.

Pamintuan will also push for the empowerment of the cities in nation building and work for a greater share of the local government units from the internal revenue allocation (IRA). — With the reports of Arlyn E. Lukban and Deng Pangilinan