Edgardo Pamintuan

Edgardo Pamintuan
From the Country to the City

In an era of people-centered development and multi-
tasking governance, Edgardo D. Pamintuan has always
stood out as a primus inter pares, the first among equals,
having fulfilled the many responsibilities the Chief
Executive had assigned to him in the course of his stint as
a public servant in the national arena.

Edgardo Dizon Pamintuan―simply Ed to family, colleagues
and friends ― was born on February 23, 1949 in Angeles
City, and raised up in a conservative middle class
environment. A self-confessed average student, he
nonetheless delved deep into books and anything else he
could read, filling his minds with notions that later would
serve as seeds of idealism.

Though passionately in love with the written word, Ed
kept an open eye to the social issues and realities that
surrounded his youth. The nation was then at the
doorstep of upheaval, and in response, he became a
youth leader who clamored for genuine change.

Ed became an active member of the Kabataang Makabayan where he found his first love
championing student rights and exposing social ills during the late 60s and briefly joined the
underground after Martial Law was declared.

All throughout his academic life, was given the best Catholic education that his parents could
provide, and seeing the congruency between his advocacies and the social teachings of the
Church, he sought to find Christ among the poorest of the poor. As a trustee of the Movement
of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism, Inc. (MABINI), he fought the
dictatorship in the courtrooms and in the streets alongside opposition giants and fellow Mabini
members Jose “Pepe” Diokno, Lorenzo Tañada, Joker Arroyo, and Rene Saguisag. He had his
share of perilous assignments and recurrent harassments, including death threats from the
military and para-military elements in Pampanga.

Even before the euphoria of the Edsa Revolution in 1986 had subsided, Ed continued his
involvement in cause-oriented groups and people’s organizations either as their head,
convenor or legal and political adviser. The leader of mass movements, civic and people’s
organizations eventually evolved into a public figure. In 1988, he ran for and handily won the
vice mayoralty race in Angeles City.

The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 radically changed the city’s landscape from a bustling
urban center to a virtual ghost town Ed was a towering figure among Angeleños, guiding
evacuees, distributing relief goods, rousing government offices and coordinating with various
disaster management agencies. He was humbled by the resiliency of the Angeleños in the face
of a seemingly insurmountable natural disaster. In 1992, inspired by the battlecry “Agyu
Tamu!” (We Can Do It!), he challenged the well-entrenched incumbent Mayor and won by a
landslide.

His sterling leadership in the devastated city was recognized by various regional and national
organizations. During his term, Angeles City was the recipient of awards in employment
generation, environmental protection, law enforcement, children’s protection, cooperatives,
sports and health. He was rewarded by grateful Angeleños with a reelection in 1995. It was in
the same year that Ed championed the fast-tracked development of the former Clark Air Force
Base as convenor of the Move Clark Now Movement and chairman of the Metro Clark Advisory
Council-Clark Development Corporation.

His leadership and ability to get things done was not lost on President Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo. From 2001 to 2004, Ed served as general manager of the National Housing Authority.
In 2002, President Arroyo appointed him as Board Member of the North Rail-Bases Conversion
Development Authority (BCDA). Two years later, he was appointed Presidential Adviser for
External Affairs, a post with the rank of cabinet secretary. In February of 2006, he was
appointed as chair of the Subic Clark Alliance Development Council (SCADC). Six months later,
recognizing his skills in enabling those who work with him, the President appointed him
Development Champion of the Urban Luzon Beltway (ULB). Seeing the need to pump-prime the
construction of the railroad going from Metro Manila to Clark, she once again went to his go-to
guy: Secretary Pamintuan was named chairman of the Northrail Corporation. Finally, in several
crucial events of national significance, President Arroyo designated him to head the Cabinet
Crisis Management Committee.

Recently, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has bestowed the Order of Lakandula award to
former Cabinet secretary Edgardo Pamintuan, who got the grand cross rank of Bayani, at
Malacañang Palace..

The award is one of the highest honors given by the Republic of the Philippines to an individual
who has dedicated his life to the service for the society, worthy of emulation by the Filipino
people.

Ed Pamintuan is the first Kapampangan to receive such distinction.

Armed with such impeccable credentials, Ed has returned to the city that he fervently loves.
This is the man who awakened the phoenix to rise from the ashen hopes of despairing
Angelenos under the dark clouds of the most destructive volcanic eruption in centuries. This is
the same man who once again seeks to bring the city he loves to its former pride and glory.
Angeles City truly deserves a fine gentleman whose idealism is tempered by a pragmatic world
view.

During the last elections, Ed Pamintuan trounced the incumbent Angeles City Mayor, Mr.
Fransisco "Blueboy" Nepomuceno by a margin of more than 26,000 votes, garnering a clear
majority of more than 60% of all votes cast.

During the farewell party tendered by his SCADC and ULB staff, Ed, his voice breaking,
expressed how overwhelmed he was at the reception he had received. This was the
unabashed, unfettered Ed, as stubborn as he was emotional, whose tight embraces were
matched by the endearment he has fostered among his people. His staff called him Sec, not
without affection. His colleagues at SCADC accorded him the respect befitting a Chairman. We
shall now call him by his once and new identity: as Mayor of Angeles City.

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