CLARK FREEPORT ZONE -- Pampanga Governor Dennis Pineda signed on Tuesday, September 1, a deed of usufruct with the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) for the use of land as site of the Diosdado P. Macapagal Memorial Provincial Hospital (DPMMPH) Annex here.
Noel Manankil, CDC president and chief executive officer, signed on behalf of the state-owned agency in a brief program held at the Royce Hotel here.
The CDC board, led by Chairman Jose de Jesus, approved the use of a 5,000-square-meter property inside the freeport for 25 years. The deed is extendible for 25 more years.
Vivencio Dizon, Bases Conversion and Development Authority president and chief executive officer and Covid-19 testing czar, announced that the Pampanga project has been allocated P100 million from the Bayanihan to Heal as One 2.
Pineda said the Capitol has set aside an initial P100 million. Mabalacat City Mayor Cris Garbo pledged P30 million per year for five years.
Pineda said his mother, Vice Governor Lilia Pineda, began the hospital annex project in 2019 by requesting the CDC to allocate a piece of land. The Provincial Board approved the project.
The DPMMPH Annex shall provide basic and affordable medical services mainly to Clark employees who are mostly from Pampanga.
Vice Governor Pineda said the DPMMPH is the first government hospital in Clark.
Governor Pineda said the DPMMPH in Clark is "really for workers" who counted 140,000 before the Covid-19 pandemic was declared last March.
"Para po ito sa ating mga manggagawa. We must have a healthy workforce to make our families happy, our communities at peace and our economy productive," the governor said.
"I thank the CDC for helping the Pampanga provincial government in this new track in our health care system," he added. (PR)