Our Hall of Fame
SIMPLY
PUT, newsworthy and – as much as possible – praiseworthy comprise the only
criteria to making it as Punto’s Man of the Year.
How
have we religiously subscribed to that is reflective of our choices through all
the six years that we’ve been doing it. Tough chance if our choices do not
correspond to those of our more discerning and discriminating readers. Anyways,
here’s a lookback, with the opening paragraphs of each tribute, generally
giving the rationale for the choice:
2008: EDDIE T. PANLILIO, Governor
of Pampanga
MIRACLE
MAN of the year. Even if that homage of his fanatical followers be taken out of
the equation, Pampanga Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio will still surpass the grade as
the most significant personality to have emerged in 2007 in the whole expanse
of Central Luzon, if not in the whole country. If only for crafting history as
the first Catholic priest to be ever elected governor.
Breaking
his priestly vow of obedience – unheeding the five-fold plea of his superior to
forego with his political ambition – Panlilio ran – and won – on the sheer
strength of his sacerdotal persona, Among
Ed. Dec. 31, 2007-Jan. 2, 2008.
2009. VICTOR JOSE LUCIANO,
President-CEO, Clark International Airport Corp.
IT WAS a
no-nonsense job tailor-fit for our Man of the Year.
Thrice offered by no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the top plum of the then fledgling Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), is one our Man of the Year could not refuse. Not in Puzo’s Godfather sense of the phrase though, but for the sheer challenge – of blazing a trail, and the impact – to national development – it posed.
Thus, it was that the fellow from Magalang, Pampanga who has made a name for himself in the national scene, retraced his steps back home to serve not just his fellow Kapampangans, but the rest of the people of Central and and Northern Luzon and help them – and the nation – find their niche in the international arena of development.
2010. OSCAR S. RODRIGUEZ, Mayor of the City of San Fernando
EXCELLENCE IS a passion; good governance, a duty; service to the people, a commitment.
The cardinal virtues of leadership in a republican state – long lost in the parody of democracy that is the Philippines – find renaissance in Mayor Oscar Samson Rodriguez of the City of San Fernando. And the Fernandino could not have been happier, nay, more blessed and prouder: of his city and his leader.
As 2009 proved yet another banner year for the city, reaping just about every recognition in myriad fields of endeavor.
Thrice offered by no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the top plum of the then fledgling Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), is one our Man of the Year could not refuse. Not in Puzo’s Godfather sense of the phrase though, but for the sheer challenge – of blazing a trail, and the impact – to national development – it posed.
Thus, it was that the fellow from Magalang, Pampanga who has made a name for himself in the national scene, retraced his steps back home to serve not just his fellow Kapampangans, but the rest of the people of Central and and Northern Luzon and help them – and the nation – find their niche in the international arena of development.
2010. OSCAR S. RODRIGUEZ, Mayor of the City of San Fernando
EXCELLENCE IS a passion; good governance, a duty; service to the people, a commitment.
The cardinal virtues of leadership in a republican state – long lost in the parody of democracy that is the Philippines – find renaissance in Mayor Oscar Samson Rodriguez of the City of San Fernando. And the Fernandino could not have been happier, nay, more blessed and prouder: of his city and his leader.
As 2009 proved yet another banner year for the city, reaping just about every recognition in myriad fields of endeavor.
2011. LILIA G. PINEDA, Governor of
Pampanga
2010
MAY as well be “Year of the Mother” for the Province of Pampanga with the
ascendancy of Gov. Lilia Garcia Pineda.
In all her public incarnations – mayor, board member, and now governor – as much as in her private persona, motherhood has come to be the very definition of Lilia Pineda: its full meaning finding expression in her singular efforts to promote the health and well-being of her people. The endearing sobriquet “Nanay Baby” as much a manifestation of the reciprocal respect and esteem her people hold her in, as a testament to the nurturing care she unceasingly provides them.
Thus, it came to pass that “Nanay Baby” was all it took to strip the veneer of sanctimony of a rehashed morality play, of a discredited crusade in the 2010 election campaign and buried in an avalanche of 488,521 votes the pretender to the Capitol throne. Indeed, an indubitable vindication of a true Pineda victory in 2007.
In all her public incarnations – mayor, board member, and now governor – as much as in her private persona, motherhood has come to be the very definition of Lilia Pineda: its full meaning finding expression in her singular efforts to promote the health and well-being of her people. The endearing sobriquet “Nanay Baby” as much a manifestation of the reciprocal respect and esteem her people hold her in, as a testament to the nurturing care she unceasingly provides them.
Thus, it came to pass that “Nanay Baby” was all it took to strip the veneer of sanctimony of a rehashed morality play, of a discredited crusade in the 2010 election campaign and buried in an avalanche of 488,521 votes the pretender to the Capitol throne. Indeed, an indubitable vindication of a true Pineda victory in 2007.
2012. EDGARDO D. PAMINTUAN, Mayor of
Angeles City
RIGHTING
– rather than just fighting -wrongs.
Forged
in the crucible of the Marcos dictatorship, Edgardo Dizon Pamintuan is steeled
in the protection and promotion of human rights, and thus fated to a public
life of correcting human errors, political, social and fiscal, administrative
and criminal: his end in view, a society grounded on the democratic ideals of
equality and liberty; his goal-in-hand, a community sharing in prosperity.
Pamintuan's persona as honorable mayor of Angeles City makes the latest -if arguably, the greatest - testament to this: taking over a city awash in wrongs, if only to set everything in it a right, and how! As a call of duty, at the instance, mayhaps even in the insistence, of destiny.
WE MADE a break from the usual last year when instead of men and women, we opted to give our annual accolade to the COMPANIES OF THE YEAR.
Pamintuan's persona as honorable mayor of Angeles City makes the latest -if arguably, the greatest - testament to this: taking over a city awash in wrongs, if only to set everything in it a right, and how! As a call of duty, at the instance, mayhaps even in the insistence, of destiny.
WE MADE a break from the usual last year when instead of men and women, we opted to give our annual accolade to the COMPANIES OF THE YEAR.
2013. SM MALLS
THE
SHORTEST distance between rural rusticity and cosmopolitan sophistication is an
SM City mall.
No more is this truer than in the coming of the Philippines’ premier mall to Central Luzon, instantly turning the landscape from rural to urban, promptly transforming the shopping, dressing, eating, leisuring habits of the people. Setting a new lifestyle aptly captured in the catch phrase: “Mag-SM tayo!” translating to “The SM mall is all.”
The pre-eminence of SM City malls in this once rice granary of the country upped and maxxed some more in 2012 with the opening of SM City Olongapo in February and SM City San Fernando Downtown in July, bringing to – count them: SM City Marilao and SM City Baliwag in Bulacan; SM City Pampanga and SM City Clark in the regional center; and SM City Tarlac – seven Henry Sy’s malls in this region, the greatest concentration outside Metro Manila.
Unarguably, SM Prime Holdings – with all its mainstay shops and tenants in its malls – is the single biggest job provider in the whole of Central Luzon. (SM malls got it all, give back some more)
No more is this truer than in the coming of the Philippines’ premier mall to Central Luzon, instantly turning the landscape from rural to urban, promptly transforming the shopping, dressing, eating, leisuring habits of the people. Setting a new lifestyle aptly captured in the catch phrase: “Mag-SM tayo!” translating to “The SM mall is all.”
The pre-eminence of SM City malls in this once rice granary of the country upped and maxxed some more in 2012 with the opening of SM City Olongapo in February and SM City San Fernando Downtown in July, bringing to – count them: SM City Marilao and SM City Baliwag in Bulacan; SM City Pampanga and SM City Clark in the regional center; and SM City Tarlac – seven Henry Sy’s malls in this region, the greatest concentration outside Metro Manila.
Unarguably, SM Prime Holdings – with all its mainstay shops and tenants in its malls – is the single biggest job provider in the whole of Central Luzon. (SM malls got it all, give back some more)
2013. CEBU PACIFIC AIR
ADRIFT
IN the doldrums was the Clark Freeport
for much of 2012, the impermanence at the helm of the Clark Development Corp.,
arguably, taking its toll on prospective investments.
Performing CDC president-CEO Antonio Remollo was replaced in April by former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Eduardo Oban Jr. albeit in an OIC capacity, and was in turn replaced in mid-December by businessman-lawyer Arthur Tugade. Like the banana republics of yore, the constant changing in the CDC leadership gives the wrong signals to investors, to say the least.
Providing the only redeeming value to the Clark Freeport in 2012 was – is – Cebu Pacific Air, the Philippines’ largest national flag carrier.
On December 4, CebPac opened its Philippine Academy for Aviation Training (PAAT), a P1.8-billion joint venture with CAE (NYSE: CAE; TSX: CAE), world leader in aviation training. Aptly capping 2012 with the greatest promise of a bullish 2013 for the Clark Freeport, as well as the Clark International Airport. (CebPac perks up ‘lethargic’ Clark)
Performing CDC president-CEO Antonio Remollo was replaced in April by former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Eduardo Oban Jr. albeit in an OIC capacity, and was in turn replaced in mid-December by businessman-lawyer Arthur Tugade. Like the banana republics of yore, the constant changing in the CDC leadership gives the wrong signals to investors, to say the least.
Providing the only redeeming value to the Clark Freeport in 2012 was – is – Cebu Pacific Air, the Philippines’ largest national flag carrier.
On December 4, CebPac opened its Philippine Academy for Aviation Training (PAAT), a P1.8-billion joint venture with CAE (NYSE: CAE; TSX: CAE), world leader in aviation training. Aptly capping 2012 with the greatest promise of a bullish 2013 for the Clark Freeport, as well as the Clark International Airport. (CebPac perks up ‘lethargic’ Clark)
To our Man of the Year of 2014,
ATTY. ARTHUR P. TUGADE, welcome to this league of extraordinary men, woman and
companies.
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 7:45 PM
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