ANGELES CITY, Pampanga – “I had the best teacher who taught me a very basic principle – huwag mang-aagrabyado, huwag magnanakaw, huwag gumawa ng hindi maganda sa kapwa.”
Thus said Opposition Councilor and Angeles City Mayoralty Aspirant Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. during the Angeles City’s Mayoral Candidates Forum on November 21 at Oasis Hotel, sponsored by Hotel and Restaurants Association in Pampanga, Inc. (HARP).
Asked what set him apart from other mayoralty aspirants in this city during, Lazatin had a simple answer, “I learned from the best.”
Lazatin was referring to his father, former Pampanga First District Representative and three-term Angeles City Mayor, Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin, who is currently serving as Chairman of Barangay Balibago in this city.
Lazatin added that he has witnessed how his father served the city for 25 years and plans to take after his father’s example by serving the city “with integrity and with a heart” once he is elected.
According to Lazatin, this brand of public service has been passed down to his father — and now to him — from his grandfather, Rafael Lazatin, who also served as Mayor of Angeles City and often fondly referred to as “Apung Feleng.”
“From my grandfather, to my father, a very important lesson has been passed down – leadership with compassion and love for this city and its people,” added Lazatin.
In the same forum, Lazatin also announced that once elected, his first order of business will be to clean out the “rotten eggs” in the city government, especially those who use their position to extort businesses in the city.
“Ang magiging administration po natin ay may paninindigan,” Lazatin stressed, “Ang ibig pong sabihin nito, we will clean out the corrupt employees in the city government, regardless of their affiliation.”
Lazatin also said that the application for business permits in the city will be effectively modernized under his administration.
“The present Business-One-Stop-Shop was first implemented during the administration of my father,” Lazatin said, “Under our administration, we plan to improve this further by properly implementing the city’s online business application system, starting with proper information dissemination.”
At present, the Angeles City Government has an online business application system in place called E-BOSS or Electronic Business One-Stop Shop, however, the service has yet to be widely used by businesses in the city.
According to the Business Permit and Licensing Division, in 2017, only 16 businesses applied for their permits through the E-BOSS system. ###