During the “Balitaan” media forum organized by the Capampangan in Media, Inc. (CAMI) in cooperation with the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) at the Bale Balita here last Friday, Floridablanca mayoralty candidate Tito Mendiola said he will establish a special economic zone in his municipality if elected mayor, making his pronouncement the most ambitious by far among local officials.
“We are trying to put up a special economic zone in barangays Calantas or San Jose which are both located along the SCTEx (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway),” said Mendiola, a former mayor of the town and also former executive vice president of PhilHealth.
“Bakit ang Hermosa nagawa niya (How come Hermosa did it)? Floridablanca is in between two freeports, Clark and Subic, why can’t we develop our own?” asked Mendiola.
He explained that Clark is located about 30 minutes from his town while Subic is about 40 minutes away which makes it ideal for a special economic zone.
Mendiola said Floridablanca’s population is about 110,000 and its income is more than P200 million including its Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and local taxes of P30 to P40 million.
“We are about 78 percent IRA dependent,” said Floridablanca Councilor Dennis Isip who was with Mendiola in the forum.
“We want to change that,” he added.
Mendiola said Floridablanca is also suitable for agriculture. “Our town is suitable for agriculture because we are located …nasa dalisdis ng bundok (…at the foot of the mountain),” he said.
“If you develop dalisdis or the mountain region, you can supply not only the vegetable requirements of Pampanga but the region as well,” he said.
“In fact there is an over abundant of supply …kaya nasisira na lang (…that’s why a lot of it get rotten),” he said.
Mendiola also said there is an “inexhaustible supply” of water in the town sourced from a spring in Barangay Nabuklod. “The irrigation of Lubao comes from Floridablanca,” he said.
“Perhaps we are the only municipality where every barangay is passed by the river system. Kaulaman, Porac-Gumain and Santol creek pass in our 33 barangays,” he said.
“We even have a tourists’ spot in Palakol,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mendiola has parting words for incumbent Floridablanca Mayor Eddie Guerrero.
“We want to save Floridablanca from bureaucrat capitalists like him (Guerrero),” he said.
“Dumating siya (Guerrero) dalawang kotse lang, ngayon 36 na. Lahat ng mga matataas na kotse nandyan Lexus, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Jaguar (He came with only two cars, now he has 36 and most of them high-end cars…),” Mendiola said.
He said Mayor Guerrero, an Ilocano, used to live in a 1,000 square-meter lot in Barangay Valdez but now it has grown into a 200-hectare property.
Mendiola said he is an agriculturist and a political scientist and for 13 years he was the executive vice president of PhilHealth.
“I handled the whole Philippines – 16 regions more than 100 provincial and city offices, 6,000 employees and funds worth P70 billion. I sign more than P10 million worth of checks a day but I am still poor today,” he said.
