Mayor welcomes debate with lawmaker over allegations

ANGELES CITY — Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan said over the weekend that he is open to a public debate with Representative Carmelo Lazatin (1st District).
“I am open to a public debate if he wants that. That is, if he can still manage to face me in a debate,” Pamintuan said during the regular “Kapihan” with the media.
Pamintuan said the recent issues raised by the Lazatin camp are mere political noise and could easily be refuted by the sheer performance of his administration.
“I do not know how they can say that the city is bankrupt or is not managed well when in fact it is the Department of Interior of Local Government that says otherwise through the recognitions that we recently received,” Pamintuan said.
Pamintuan recently received six awards on transparency and good governance from the DILG.
The awards, which were given by DILG secretary Manuel Roxas III, include the Gawad Pamana ng Lahi Award – Highly-Urbanized City category, the Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS) Plaque of Recognition – Top 10 for two years in a row, and the Seal of Good Housekeeping (SGH) for 2nd straight year.
This city was also awarded certificates of recognition on performance areas of social governance, valuing fundamentals of good governance, and administrative governance.
Pamintuan said the awards are the best defense against tirades of politicians trying to vie and lead the city again.
“The awards are a source of pride and inspiration for Angeleños, coming after more than a decade of lagging behind other LGUs and cities, which zoomed past us in terms of development, governance and delivery of basic services,” he said.
Angeles City joined the list of the Top 13 provincial, city and municipal governments that gained the highest scores for 2011 in the DILG-administered LGPMS, which is being done annually.
LGPMS is a management and development tool that does not only enable local governments to determine their capabilities and limitations in the delivery of public services, but also provides information on the state of local governance performance and their state of local development.
SGH is given to local government units (LGUs) that have excelled in the areas of planning, budgeting, revenue mobilization, financial management and budget execution, procurement and resource mobilization while the Gawad Pamana ng Lahi Award is given to a province, city, or municipality that accords government recognition to exemplary performance in administrative, social, economic and environmental governance.
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2012/11/03/mayor-welcomes-debate-lawmaker-over-allegations-251487