IN THE flag ceremony at the City Hall, Xevera, Tabun on Monday May 27, 2019, Mayor Crisostomo C. Garbo exuberantly announced big projects for Mabalacat City, namely: the construction of the new city hall at Barangay Mabiga and the refurbishing of the Mabalacat District Hospital, which, until now, is under the administrative control of the Pampanga Provincial Government.
On the proposed new city hall, Mayor Cris announced it will be a state-of-the-art facility complete with the latest amenities. It would cost some P1 billion: P400 million for the property and P600 million for the building. This time, he said, all the offices will be housed in the same building, not like before where other offices were situated in different sites. It will be a world-class edifice, declared the mayor.
The district hospital, meanwhile, will undergo face-lifting and massive improvement to reflect the good image of the city. The Provincial Government will still handle the administration of the facility, but the mayor will increase its manpower complement.
He also announced the erection of a housing project for the poor and the homeless. In this, he tasked Rosan S. Paquia, ESQ, the CPDC head and concurrent city administrator, to lay out the plans for the project in close coordination with the mayor.
In the same flag ceremony, he announced the streamlining of the personnel structure of the City Government: all those job order contract holders who were vocal against then mayoralty candidate Cris Garbo will be terminated. This also applies to some department heads who posted unfavorable posts against Garbo on Facebook. These, he says, will also face the same severe consequences. Meanwhile, he challenged them to
ponder their next move and he suggested that they better resign from their present posts, otherwise, he will personally disengage their services. As to the JOs, he claims, he brought home their PDS to scrutinize them and ascertain their loyalty. It is a painful decision to make, declared the mayor, but it has to be made.
***
2019 is the year of the youth. So much activities are being done to observe the year of the youth, whether locally or internationally.
And it must be as the millennials of today will be the future leaders in the years to come. They should be nurtured and molded to become model citizens of the country.
And much has been written about their roles in society. Several opinion writers touched on these roles, including their participation in organizations such as the Sangguniang Kabataan, a movement that aims to train and prepare the youth to become the nation's leaders.
There are several out-of-school youth in Mabalacat City. There are solutions to this like the Alternative Learning System which will allow them to at least obtain high school diplomas if they pass the equivalency tests.
The City Employment Service Office headed by Bernard delos Reyes helps the out-of-school youth in their quest for literacy and gainful employment. Presently, it conducts the Special Program for the Employment of Students (Spes), which ends in the first week of June, 2019. Some of them were assigned to fast food chains like MacDonald's in Dau and in Mabalacat. This way, these students will gain actual working experience and if they prove reliable and hard working, they might be absorbed by the facilities they are presently assigned to.