Apu Ceto: Gifted of Grace
TODAY, MARCH 9, marks the 89th birthday of Archbishop Emeritus Paciano B. Aniceto. It has also been 12 years since Apu Ceto was succeeded as prelate of the Archdiocese of San Fernando, two years after reaching the mandatory age of retirement at 75. Retired – we wrote here at that time – only from the administration […]
The vindication of Delfin Lee
AS MUCH for Delfin Lee as for the thousands of homeowners in his Xevera developments in Bacolor, Pampanga and Mabalacat City who have kept faith in him is Lee’s full vindication that came with RTC Branch 41 Judge Joel C. Bantasan granting on Feb. 25 the demurrer to evidence that effectively acquitted Lee and four […]
Dynastic Dynamics 6: Family heirloom
PRESIDENT DIOSDADO P. Macapagal, himself a former congressman and vice president, sired former Pampanga Vice Gov. Cielo Macapagal-Salgado and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, herself a former senator and vice president and current congresswoman, who birthed Mickey Macapagal-Arroyo elected “regular” congressman and party list representative, and Dato Macapagal-Arroyo, congressman. A sibling of Apung Dadong, Angel “Star” P. Macapagal, also […]
Dynastic Dynamics 5: Dynasties, duh!
NO TO Mag-INDA-Now. Punning perfection from Pampanga’s moral minority provided the high definition, indeed, impacted the meanest meaning, to political dynasty in the province. Alas, it failed to catch the imagination, much less inflame the conviction of the electorate. Most miserably, at that. Did I say minority? Minimality, more aptly, as suggested by their actual […]
Dynastic Dynamics 4: Political landscaping
WHAT HAVE Cong. Yeng Guiao, Cong. Oca Rodriguez, Mayor Junjun Tetangco, BM Cris Garbo, and ex-Mayor Buddy Dungca have in common? One, they all lost in the recent elections: in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th congressional districts, in the Mabalacat City and the Bacolor mayorships (in the order as the names appeared above). Two, and more […]
Dynastic Dynamics 3: Sibling, conjugal, filial
TRIPLE HAPPINESS. All three Carmelo Lazatins (L-R) — first time congressman Jonjon, former five-time congressman and three-term city mayor Tarzan, and re-elected city councilor Pogi at Talk Widus forum, June 1, 2016, two years before Cong Tarzan died without seeing Pogi set a winning record in the Angeles City mayoralty polls. SIBLING SUPREMACY is affirmed anew in the […]
Dynastic Dynamics 2: Wax, wane but here to stay
POLITICAL FAMILY fortunes — triple, double, mixed – and misfortunes too, abounded in the 2025 polls in Pampanga. Perfect three-of-three scored the family of outgoing House Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales: daughter Mica taking up his post as 3rd District representative; son Brenz, vice mayor of the City of San Fernando; and wife MyMy, 3rd District […]
Capampangan, A to Z
THIS THURSDAY, December 11, marks the 454th year of the founding of the Province of Pampanga, the first in the entire island of Luzon by the Spanish conquistadores. Enough cause not only for a grand celebration but also of that conceit the Capampangan is widely known for. Unwanting to reprint for the nth time my paean to the Aldo […]
Angeles City at 196
DECEMBER 8 marks the 196th foundation day of El Pueblo de los Angeles, when the settlement Culiat, established in 1796 by Don Angel Pantaleon Miranda and his esposa Doña Rosalía de Jesús, separated from its matrix San Fernando and was officially named in honor of the holy patrons Los Santos Angeles Custodios. “A history built on resilience, culture, […]
Blast from a quarried past
P40-M IN REVENUES AT RISK. No less than Engr. Romeo “Buddy” Dungca, chief of the provincial quarry regulatory unit KALAM (Kapampangan a Lulugud at Matapat), has sounded the alarm over the immense losses to be impacted upon Pampanga if the shutdown of 40 quarry sites in Porac which the operators themselves imposed take the full […]