TARLAC CITY, Tarlac – “I want to make opportunities for my people to lessen the gap between the rich and the poor.”
Thus said Gov. Victor “Vic” Yap in his parting words when he delivered his State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Wednesday at the session hall of the provincial board (PB).
“That’s my dream,” added Yap whose impromptu speech lasted for about one hour and 10 minutes. He called on local officials to help him reduce poverty through “human development.”
“There are four components of human development – education, health, work and food,” said Yap. He stressed that these four components have been prioritized by his administration since he first became governor in 2007.
The two-term governor stressed that the support of the national government will be crucial in further developing the presidential home province.
Yap, youngest son of the late governor and congressman Jose Yap, said that the improvement of the province’s public investments will boost their economy and attract more investors.
He cited the Balog-Balong Irrigation Multi-purpose Project which is expected to be completed at the end of the year, benefitting thousands of farmers tilling 34,000 hectares of land in this city and the towns of La Paz, Gerona, Pura, Ramos, Panique, Bamban and Concepcion.
The completion of the P349-million irrigation system is expected to boost the rice and vegetable productions of the province founded in 1873.
PRESIDENT’S PROVINCE
Yap said their province will definitely get a “fair share” of support from Aquino, who hails from Hacienda Luisita here, when asked about the advantage of Tarlac being a presidential home province.
He added that the reputation of Aquino as a “fair official” had prevented them from asking too much from the bachelor-president. “We want to avoid being told by President Aquino ‘don’t be spoiled,” said Yap, former vice mayor of Victoria town.
Yap said the combined budget of the provincial government for 20 years is not enough to fund the rehabilitation of public infrastructure projects such as the flood mitigation system.
He said they need the help of the national government in removing Tarlac from the list as one of the most frequently flooded provinces in the country. But Yap stressed that “if given a change to choose which projects to fund first,” he will ask Aquino to support the Tarlac General Hospital (TGP).
The governor said he was thankful to Aquino for sending Health Secretary Sec. Enrique Ona at the TGP last January to inspect the then on-going construction of the new building of the hospital.
He wanted to help the Department of Health (DOH) turned the TGP “as one of the premier hospitals in Region III.”
Yap disclosed that the TGP gets an average of P1,100 fee per patient, including those given major treatment and operation.
“I think no other hospital in the country offer such small fee for their patients,” added Yap, who studied at the Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines and University of Asia and the Pacific.
LOCATION IS FACTOR
Yap underscored the “strategic” location of their province composed of 17 towns and this city. He said the super highways linking Tarlac to Subic and Clark Freeports and other provinces in Central Luzon and North Luzon “makes it ideal for investors.”
Tarlac is a landlocked province which shares its borders with Pampanga to the south, Nueva Ecija to the east, Pangasinan to the north and Zambales to the west.
Yap cited the planned Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEx) that will connect the cities of Tarlac and San Jose in Nueva Ejica. He also mentioned the proposed highway linking Tarlac to Aurora province.
Yap said the two planned highways will be linked to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway (SCTEx), largely benefitting their province in terms of attracting more investors due to its location at the center of development.
Yap expressed his support to turning the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport at Clark as the country’s premiere airport.
WORK AND MORE WORK
Yap said with the help of the provincial board led by Vice Gov. Pearl Erguiza-Pacada, they were able to generate some 12,000 jobs. He added that 2,000 of which had been generated by the Tarlac IT Park.
Among those international firms that established outlets at the IT Park includes the Sutherland Global Services, which also has Business Process Outsourcing office at Clark. Capas Mayor Antonio “TJ” Rodriguez said with the help of Yap, he had generated jobs for some 5,000 residents for a new garment’s factory and other new businesses in the town.
MORE FOR EDUCATION
Paniqui Mayor Miguel Rivilla said he and other Tarlac mayors “are fully supportive” of Yap’s vision to make their province progressive through the availability of quality education.
He said they have three public high schools in Paniqui but their town needs one more to properly serve the needs of his people. Yap disclosed that the quality of education of their public elementary schools had been ranked by the national government as one of the top ten in the country.
But he pointed out that the quality of education in the high school here had been ranked as between 30 to 40 among all the provinces. “So there are a lot of works to do, especially in field of education,” said Yap, brother of Second District Rep. Susan Yap-Sulit.
Yap stressed that “I should not be credited alone for the accomplishments of Tarlac but all of us.” Tarlac City Mayor Gelacio Manalang said “their projects and that of the province compliment each other and vice versa.”
Vice Gov. Padaca, for her part, said the provincial board “is all-out” for the projects of Yap designed to help the poor. Yap praised the Philippine National Police in their province for putting Tarlac the second lowest number of all kinds of crime in Region III.
“Without peace, there will be no progress. Without real progress, there will be no peace,” said Yap, who scored a landslide victory in his re-election bid last year.
