Early birds

 AS YET to hit the ground, so to speak, and already raring to run, if not actually sprinting.

Not so much out of excitement to fill hizzoner’s chair, as to deliver on the promises made during the campaign that – to them – was the real key to their victory.

Giant killer Abundio “Jun” Punsalan – conqueror of returning three-termer Digos Canlas, dubbed “the lord of wetlands reclamation” – has already declared his first executive order: Shut down D’Meters Field, reported as a cattle farm and subject of numerous complaints from the community where it is located.

“Hindi po tama na ang isang bakahan ay nasa barangay. Ang alam ko ang bakahan, rancho yan, dapat nasa bundok o nasa malayong lugar para hindi makaperwisyo sa mga tao.” So was Punsalan quoted in Sun-Star Pampanga,   articulating the plaints of his constituency against the farm, from odor most foul to fly infestation, to respiratory ailments.

And enjoined the company, thus: “Lumipat na po kayo dahil hindi ko na po kayo papayagan diyan. Umalis na lang kayo para hindi na lang po tayo magkasamaan ng loob. Marami na kayong naperwisyo, marami ng nagkasakit kaya nakikiusap ako, umalis na kayo.”

Also, in the immediate agenda of Punsalan is the inspection of all industrial sites along Quezon Road “to ensure that they are compliant with building and environmental codes, among others”.
Among others there presumably had everything to do with the police, NBI, Customs, and BIR raids on warehouses where fake cigarettes and other  contraband running to hundreds of million pesos have been all-too-routinely seized.

Lest he be thought otherwise, Punsalan was quick to say: “I am not anti-progress. I am also a businessman and I assure them that they will not be shooed away as long as they follow all the rules.”

Love Magalang

The object of Magalang Mayor-elect Romulo Pecson’s attention, if not affection, are the senior citizens, and health services, particularly to the most indigent among his constituency.

Pecson does not stop at mere compliance of all concerned – pharmacies, restaurants, public utilities, grocery stores, among others – with the 20 percent senior citizen’s discount. His standing vow is to extend financial subsidy to the elderly.

"All of them (senior citizens) will receive regular allowance from the local government,” Pecson declared during a recent News@Hues forum of the Pampanga Press Club at the Park Inn by Radisson Clark.

“Number two (priority action) is we will not let health centers run out of medicines, freely available to our poor townmates, no matter their political preferences,” Pecson said, lamenting that the administration he unseated held back medical services to those identified with him.

"I saw their management style. That is why I returned," he said, adding that his coming administration will adhere to their campaign slogan of “Love Magalang.”

Ing Malugud

Even as love also permeates the political atmosphere in Candaba – Ing Malugud (The Loving One) being Mayor-Elect Rene Maglanque’s campaign monicker – it is infrastructure development that is first in the agenda of the incoming administration.

Maglanque is reviving the proposal he already presented to the Department of Public Works and Highways in his first stint at the mayorship in 2013 but conveniently shoved under the rug with his loss in 2016. This is a new road network to Candaba that will bypass traffic-gridlocked Sta. Ana.   

"Kung dadaan tayo sa Sta. Ana ngayon, lalo na kapag Lunes na araw ng palengke nila, aabutin tayo ng mahigit isang oras para makapasok ng Candaba na kung tutuusin ay napakaikling distansya lamang," Maglanque said.
His proposed road of about seven kilometers length directly links Barangay Pasig in Candaba with the roundabout in Barangay Sto. Domingo in Mexico, accessing San Luis and Sta. Ana towns, the old Gapan-Olongapo Road (Now Jose Abad Santos Avenue) to the City of San Fernando, and the Quezon Road going to San Simon and the North Luzon Expressway. Travel time from the capital city to Candaba is expected to be cut to 45 minutes from the now hour-and-a-half, Maglanque estimated.
The once Department of Transportation and Communications assistant secretary sees his road fruiting to greater developments: "Kapag may bagong daan, kasabay noon ang development. Pwedeng mai-convert into commercial or industrial iyong mga lupa na nakatiwangwang na dadaanan ng bypass road at pwede rin maging residential."

Very promising. Maglanque and Pecson unexpected to squander the second chance given them by their constituents. Punsalan, though a novato, showing some mettle in besting a seasoned politico.

Worth watching, all three. (Photos grabbed from facebook)