IMAGINE for a moment that what Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Director Renato Solidum saying repeatedly for some years now that "the big one" happened. The West Valley fault destruction to Metro Manila is so tremendous and government can't cope due to its magnitude. Maybe Solidum will tell everyone "this is what I have been telling you all along." And many people who heeded Solidum's warnings and moved outside of the Metro Manila area are happy of their decision while sad for their kin and friends who stayed.
I want to share you this and may interest you and may want to live in my beautiful hometown of Porac. It was during those board meetings when I was still a member of the board of the Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation, by virtue of me being nominee of the Bases Conversion Development Corporation when I got acquainted with Fernando Zobel and Antonino "Tony" Aquino, who were also board members.
I remember one time I asked Tony Aquino who was then the president of the giant property developer Ayala Land Incorporated if their group purchased a vast tract of land in Porac, Pampanga. He answered in the affirmative, and he tossed a question, "Why are you interested to know?" I was born there. That's my hometown, I replied.
I really don't know if Tony will still remember that I told him this story, that in one of those endearing moments after the early evening dinner, my mom, Apung Batik told me the story about Hacienda Dolores, the site of the Ayala's Alviera. That I was her only child among us of nine siblings born in that barrio. The hacienda was considered very remote at that time, with the town proper of Porac as the reference point. I recalled her saying that her family owned a 28 hectare property in the sitio Sabanilla (a site which is a stone throw to the SCTEX interchange) but mortgaged it to his nephew Lawyer Arturo Lumanlan, older brother of Juanita, wife of Francisco Nepomuceno, due to the long absence of my father who was with the USAFFE group fighting the Japanese army who were advancing to Bataan.
All of them are long dead now and are just but memories. But what is etched still in my mind is the picture perfect landscapes that surrounds Alviera. The improved access via the SCTEX with a well-paved road of around three kilometers and connecting to the Porac-Angeles road makes easy and pleasurable driving. And Clark Freeport is few minutes away by the interchange.
Recently, I had Mike Tapang, a former town councilor and now a successful businessman as guest in my weekly Trending Max PepTV show. Our discussion centered most about the town. How lethargic Porac was when I was still in my shorts, and even when I was already in high school at St. Catherine Academy. And how things changed overnight. The town grew by leaps and bounds in the last fifteen years. And then this SCTEX cutting a slice of the town and putting up an interchange and it will not be far-fetched it will become one urban center, Tapang said.
In my youth, when I made trips to Angeles I will be lucky enough to see five or six vehicles traversing the Porac-Angeles road stretch. Today, like any bigger town the traffic jam is a daily experience. But a toll road that will have a similar alignment like the mega dike is already on the drawing board ne maybe realized in few years, Tapang said.
Tweets:
- The incumbent barangay captains and the wannabes are being kept in suspense. Will there be an election next month? Or none?
- Why do we always here that police visibility is necessary to keep peace and order? But where are the cops?
- That's one boxing match. Golovkin vs. Alvarez. Reminds us of Manny Pacquiao in his prime.