“I am a corporate man. I have a vision that will connect the City of San Fernando with the megalopolis plans laid out by former President now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.”
THUS declared Mayor Edwin Santiago detailing his plans which, according to him, he already did some groundwork and wanted to continue if given another term by the San Fernando electorates. He said the city is now the choice of investors for those Eastwood type of central business districts and maybe in no time at all will be scattered in various locations in the city. He even made a further claim that Bonifacio Global City will be 86 I heard a reaction from a newsman loud enough for me to hear, exclaiming. E di wow! Well, good if it will happen. Everything starts with an idea anyway.
True enough, since Philippine Volcanology Institute (Phivolcs) Director Renato Solidum declared that an earthquake which he described as “the big one” may occur, many in the past few years moved to outside of Metro Manila area. Aside from the Sy family which has already several malls here in Pampanga, the Filinvest group, Megaworld, and the Ayalas are already here.
This is how progress can be viewed and expected in Pampanga since Speaker Macapagal Arroyo tasked well-known architect Jun Palafox, who is a friend also of Santiago, to draw the megalopolis plan. Not only San Fernando, Mabalacat and Angeles that will be witnessing activities never witnessed before but prosperity will spill over on adjacent towns.
I want to share you this and may interest you about 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 (BCDA) 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 (ALI) 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 among us nine siblings I am the only one child who was 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 Atty. Arturo Lumanlan, older brother of Juanita, wife of Francisco G. 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.
I remember my discussion with Mike Tapang, a former town councilor and now a successful businessman. Our discussion centered most about the continued progress of 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, an institution run by nuns from St. Rita College. And how thing 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 unlocking the lands surrounding in that area, it will not be farfetched it will become one urban center. Maybe in 20 years Porac will become a city far more progressive than Angeles and Mabalacat. And why not?