Ed Pamintuan’s ascent to city hall
Like the well loved and charismatic Alberto Pamintuan who was vice mayor and an undefeated in all his political outings, observers were concluding that his son Edgardo who tallied big votes in the vice mayoral race will achieve further heights. While Tatang Bert, as he was addressed by kin and friends, including colleagues started as barangay captain and served years as councilor of the municipal board and later elected as the council’s presiding officer, his son Edgardo started as vice mayor.
The eruption of the nearby volcano Mt. Pinatubo in June 1991 brought widespread destruction, but true to the saying that in every adversity there is opportunity, Vice Mayor Ed Pamintuan was ushered into the tide of good fortune. He was the acting mayor when Abad Santos made a trip to the United States, and in brief period he exerted some efforts to get the attention of the Angeles constituency. He succeeded. In one column article appearing in a local daily, here goes an observation: ‘Market goers and shopkeepers at the city’s Pampang public market were aroused by the sudden presence of what appeared to be a giant demonstration in the area. Blaring sound system, megaphone and honking vehicles caused a cacophony of riotous soul as men holding brooms paraded in the area. Around the delegation and nearby positioned to do their chores where young boys and girls holding hundreds of brooms. It was the opening day salvo of a total cleanup campaign of ‘ANGELES ON THE MOVE.’ And this was the prelude on Pamintuan’s quest for mayorship.
In one of Pamintuan’s speeches before the elections of 1992 he declared: ‘On May 11 this year, the people will troop to the polls and exercise their sovereign rights to choose their leaders. Those who have served well will get the mandate. Those who have betrayed the people’s trust will be booted out of Office. Those who have led our city and its people through the worst crisis Angeles has ever seen will have earned the people’s lasting gratitude, hopefully their votes as well.’
He continued: ‘All of these, we have done in the few short months that the people of Angeles have allowed me to serve as the city’s acting mayor. We do not crave for a big share of the credit for work already done, for the bigger job of reconstruction lies ahead. But we were there when it really counted.’
‘My record as a public servant is an open book. Believing as I do that the voice of the people is supreme and that people are wise and just. I humbly ask the people to render their judgment based on my performance record.’
And in the May 1992 elections, Pamintuan bested all his opponents in that mayoral race.