CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines -- Apparently ending months of disagreement with Governor Eddie Panlilio, 15 of 21 mayors in Pampanga finally showed up at a meeting of the Pampanga Development Council on Friday, giving it a fresh start to implement P181.23 million worth of projects this year.

Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda and Minalin Mayor Edgar Flores, president and secretary-general of the Pampanga Mayors League, respectively, led the mayors in the meeting.

Also present were the mayors of Mexico, Sto. Tomas, Guagua, Floridablanca, San Simon, Sta. Ana, Sasmuan, and San Luis. The mayors of Candaba, Arayat, Macabebe, Apalit, and Mabalacat sent their representatives.

Convened by Panlilio in July 2007 after 12 years of inactivity under the administrations of former Governors Manuel "Lito" Lapid and his son, Mark, the PDC saw the mayors straying away from the next two meetings due to the delay in the implementation of P169 million worth of projects funded through the 20-percent development fund.

The PML’s non-attendance -- "boycott" as some quarters called it -- was "not due to politics," Pineda said.

"We saw delay and we asked the governor to address that first. The problem is not with Among (Father) Ed but with some of his staff," said Pineda, the son of former Board Member Lilia Pineda whom Panlilio defeated in the gubernatorial election last year.

The mood was more jovial than tense in Friday’s meeting.

Panlilio noted in that meeting "too much delay" in the implementation of the 2007 projects.

He asked the officials of the provincial engineering office (PEO) to hasten the delivery of services.

The delay has been largely due to a strict bidding process to weed out graft and irregularities in project implementation, Panlilio said.

The provincial board approved the projects only in August, he said.

As of last week, P60 million worth of infrastructure projects in the 21 towns, at a minimum cost of P3 million per town, were 40 percent finished, a PEO report said.

Most of the projects were done "by-administration," meaning these were built by the PEO to save on funds.

Panlilio agreed to the requests of the mayors to allow them to hire local labor to help create jobs in their towns.

At least this time, they said, the projects were being coordinated with them.

They said that during the time of former Governor Mark Lapid, the projects were coordinated with barangay (village) captains and not with the mayors.

Because most of the 22 projects for 2008 were provincial in scope, the mayors proposed to submit a list of local projects that would be included. More local projects would be accepted as local incomes and share of the internal revenue allotment grow.

Pampanga expects P906.19 million for its share of the IRA (internal revenue allotment) this year. Quarry collections under Panlilio surpassed the P180-million mark last week, enabling the provincial government to earn revenue of P45 from the P150 tax imposed on every truckload of sand.

The PML also agreed to subject to public consultations the proposal of the provincial government to raise real property taxes by 300 percent. Tax rates were last revised in 1994.

"The meeting was very good and very productive. The mayors were candid but respectful with their remarks. I hope this will continue because in reality, we have a common aim, which is to serve our constituents," Panlilio said.