Tulabut: Of Jun and June

By Noel G. Tulabut
My Palm Notes

APALIT town. Rarely hugging the headlines yet never without news. Good at that.

The southernmost municipality of Pampanga is farthest from where I live in Mabalacat, which borders Tarlac to the north. But what the town has been achieving are very near to progress and development.

For starters, it has dynamic and youthful leadership in Mayor Oscar Tetangco Jr.

Fondly called Jun by his friends, the good mayor is ably supported by Vice Mayor Peter Nucom and Councilors Jedalyn Dalusong, Zaldy Guanzon, Kenneth Nunag, Elias Mendoza Jr., Edmon Simon, Augusto Manlapaz, Almario Ignacio and Cesar Sigua Jr.

What makes Apalit work even more like a well-oiled engine is the fact that the mayorship finds no enmity with any of the other officials of the town - whether elected or appointed. The unity they have could be a subject of envy by other towns and most especially Angeles City. The unity that they have also inspires and motivates Apalitenos to push their town to prosperity.

The leadership of Mayor Jun goes beyond the day-to-day rounds of the 12 barangays of Apalit. It is more than making decisions right inside his office at the town hall during the day. By nightfall, he continues to think of getting things done for Apalit as he talks and consults with the vice mayor, the councilors and advisers over cup of coffee. I have seen one of their meetings and I could only wish for those productive talks to be emulated by other local government officials of the province.

The son of an equally great leader of Pampanga - Mayor Oscar Tetangco Sr. who had done great wonders for the town in his 20-year leadership, Mayor Jun is delivering what he promised his constituency during the campaign period in 2007.

Foremost of which is the bottleneck in his town where monstrous traffic by vehicles heading south to MegaManila leave not only the town but its former officials weary and almost accursed by people who pass by.

Mayor Jun had squarely faced this problem by instituting discipline among motorists, pedestrians, vendors that did not only help solve the traffic in front of the public market but had also cleaned the area of unscrupulous elements, eyesores, encroachments and overloaded trucks what have you.

The 31-year-old mayor is more than a student of public administration too. He could be a maestro of it at his young age as he turned the finances of the town around. From a P28 million budget deficit, Apalit now has P30 million in its coffers. In 2006, the town had P9 million revenues. He assumed the mayorship halfway through 2007 when income went to P11 million. But for 2008, the target of P13.5 million had already been reached in the first quarter alone, earning for the town an award of excellence for the municipal treasurer by the Municipal Treasurer Association of the Philippines.

Intangibles they may be considered yet this accomplishment definitely transcends to improved social services from education, health, and infrastructure. These and all indicate fulfillment of an objective to provide what the people of Apalit had expected of their new vibrant leaders. And Mayor Jun has just started to do just that.