Friday, March 07, 2008 Pangan: Moving Forward By Benjie R. Pangan At Close Range
AFTER Dau, there are three areas the leadership of the local government unit (LGU) of Mabalacat should now focus on developing: the Dolores-Cacutud-Tabun growth triangle, Sapang Biabas, and Calumpang.
Now the site of a major interchange, the Dolores area will become the next mixed-use district north of the town.
Accessible from all directions, this will provide the impetus of development and transformation of the first-class municipality into a component city.
Meanwhile, Sapang Biabas, which ranks third in income (after Dau and Madapdap with Dapdap barangay proper) is an ideal investment and investors' haven with its wide land area and strategic location.
The medium-term development plan for this site by the municipal government of Mayor Boking Morales should be implemented in earnest so as to maximize Sapang Biabas potentials.
Calumpang, which straddles the hilly part westward of the town proper, and which has as its neighbors, Barangays Macapagal and Marcos villages and, of course, the Clark freeport zone and bounded by what used to be Sacobia river, is ready to be transformed into an ecotourism site, courtesy of the Departments of Agriculture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the town tourism office and its municipal planning and development council, the Clark Development Corporation (CDC), National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the barangay itself.
What is needed here is the resolve to develop the barangay into another Tagaytay-type tourist attraction.
If Calumpang moves forward, so will its sister Barangays Macapagal and Marcos, headed by Barangays leaders Marcos Caligagan and Bonnet Estanislao, respectively.
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About 28 trainee welders were brought last March 4 to the Hanjin Heavy Industries work site in Subic by Dau Kagawad Elena Pandato and community affairs man Gerry Dayrit, through the efforts and initiative of Peso Mabalacat and with the encouragement and support of Mayor Boking Morales and wife Nina.
The shipbuilding company will provide the welders steady income via longterm contracts.
Likewise, Peso Mabalacat announces the start of the annual Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) on April 1.
About 44 students composed of 15 males and 29 females will make up the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole)-LGU line up, while about 82 more will be accepted into the town's summer hire program.
The Dole-Region 3 office, headed by Nathaniel Lacambra and assisted by Chief Leo Alex Inza Cruz, Conrad Borra and the rest of Alex's staff, will provide complementary funds (40 percent) for the students while the LGU will hand out 60 percent of the wages of the SPES participants, as stated in the LGU's pledge of commitment, co-signed by Mayor Boking Morales and Roger Tanglao, the municipal budget officer.
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I have some agonizing reports of taxpayers from Angeles City regarding the widening rift between the city's Provincial Board presiding officer, Vicky Vega Cabigting and the council's honorable members.
The power play in the legislative council now reportedly transcends personal affairs and situations.
I say this is alarming if not stopped pronto. Who suffers from this impasse? The residents of Angeles City, of course.
I suggest that the "quarreling" honorables get their act together for the common good. Tama na muna ang grandstanding, please.
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Poor Filipino families now number 4.7 million-news item. Correction, please.
This is no longer new or news as poverty in the country is commonplace. The figures rise, as more and more Filipinos grow hungry by the day.
