October 15, 2007 | 12:00am
SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The Central Luzon bloc of lawmakers recently signed a resolution asking President Arroyo to provide funding for the full operation of a regional government center here.House Resolution No. 275, introduced by Pampanga third district Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., was endorsed by 20 congressmen from seven provinces of the region and sought the establishment of a regional government center on an 18–hectare site in Barangay Maimpis here.
About P150 million is needed to make the regional center operational as a one-stop shop government center, Gonzales said.
The fund covers, among others, infrastructure interventions, a drainage and sewerage system, a commercial arcade, provision of pedestrian overpass and covered walk, and the relocation of informal settlers.
A number of families, mostly displaced by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, have squatted on the site and have to be relocated with assistance from government, Gonzales said.
“The operation of the regional center will ultimately contribute to the President’s vision of bringing the government closer to the people,” the resolution stated.
The signatories were led by presidential son and Pampanga second district Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo.
The others were Reps. Juan Edgardo Angara of Aurora; Herminia Roman and Albert Garcia of Bataan; Ma. Victoria Sy-Alvarado, Pedro Pancho, Lorna Silverio, Reylina Nicolas and Arturo Robles of Bulacan; Eduardo Nonato Joson, Joseph Gilbert Violago, Czarina Umali and Rodolfo Antonino of Nueva Ecija; Carmelo Lazatin and Anna York Bondoc of Pampanga; Monica Louise Prieto-Teodoro, Jose Yap and Jeci Lapus of Tarlac; and Ma. Milagros Magsaysay and Antonio Diaz of Zambales.
