HAGONOY, Bulacan—Newly elected officials in the province vowed speedy implementation of project as they assumed office on Monday.
This developed even as hundreds of employees in different local government units are expected to lose their jobs in the coming days.
Mayor Raulito Manlapaz of this town vowed that he will rebuild the burned public market within the year here.
The new mayor’s declaration came after he assumed office on Monday, and about three years since the public market was razed to the ground in August 2010.
He also vowed to reopen the old municipal sport complex here that is now being used as a temporary market.
As the new mayor of this coastal town that produced a senator of the republic, two provincial governors and three congressional representatives, Manlapaz also vowed to rehabilitate the 100-hectare municipal fishpond which dikes were washed away after years of neglect.
He said that the said fishpond used to serve as a money maker for this town, but it was abandoned by its operator when the dikes started to deteriorate.
In Malolos City, re-elected Mayor Christian Natividad vowed to fast track the construction of the new city hall along with the rehabilitation of the Malolos City Public Market which was razed to the ground in August last year.
In Bustos town, re-elected Mayor Arnel Mendoza said they will update their old comprehensive land use plan which was first ratified over 10 years ago.
“We will also update our municipal development code to adapt to the current conditions,” he said noting that construction of the Balagtas-Plaridel-Bustos bypass road encouraged more investors in their town and hastened its development in the last two years.
In Guiguinto town, newly elected Mayor Ambrosio Cruz vowed to improve the garden and landscaping industry in his town through the development of a proposed 50-hectare garden city and technopark on the eastern part of the town near the Balagtas-Plaridel-Bustos bypass road.
However, Cruz said that he has to let go of some employees of the municipal government noting that before he assumed office yesterday, they found out that Guiguinto has at least P50 million in budget deficit.
Mass lay-offs are also expected in other local government units in the province but newly elected mayors are trying to do it silently.
Most of the affected employees are those under the job order category along with some casual employees.
In the provincial Capitol, sources said that re-elected Governor Wilhelmino Alvarado is also reviewing performances of employees.
The source said that such review could also lead to mass lay-offs.
On Sunday, Alvarado vowed further development of Bulacan through the Program on Rapid Industrialization and Development (PRIDE).
Alvarado also announced that construction of the one-kilometer bridge of the Balagtas-Plaridel-Bustos bypass road will start within the year.
“We will soon have the ground-breaking for the bridge that will hasten the completion of the Balagtas Plaridel Bypass,” he said.
The said bypass road branched out of the northbound lane of the North Luzon Expressway and stretches to about 26 kilometers towards San Rafael town in the east.
The first phase of the project was completed and inaugurated early this year, while the second phase has been bid out.
