Victoria, Tarlac Mayor Christian Yap
CLARK FREEPORT – Victoria town in Tarlac, established as a community the mid-1800, will have its own Philippine Economic Zone Authority area by the third quarter of the year.
This was disclosed by youthful Mayor Christian Yap in his guesting at the media forum “Balitaan” organized by the Capampangan in Media, Inc. in cooperation with the Clark Development Corp. at the Bale Balita here last Friday. The 36-year-old local government executive is a candidate for Tarlac province’s 2nd congressional district in the May 9 elections.
Yap said they are now developing the western side of Tarlac’s 2nd district which is part of the Zambales mountain ranges in line with his eco-tourism projects: “We have constructed mountain roads in the area and eventually we can envision something like Tagaytay there.”
Yap said he is doing this in consultation with the local folk. He said like his uncle, incumbent Rep. Victor Yap, he is first a representative of his people – 2nd district Tarlaquenos. He noted that Congressman Yap did not support the government’s Rice Tariffication Law because he sees it as detrimental to the farmers.
Like his uncle, he said he is determined to serve his constituents first.
In retrospect, Mayor Yap said he was legally adopted by his late grandfather, Jose “Aping” Yap, who also served as congressman of the 2nd district of Tarlac from 1965 to 1972, and from 1987 to 1998. He succumbed to cancer in 2010.
In 2007, Yap said he served as the executive assistant of his uncle where he really was involved into the thick of things like livelihood, environment, and education. “That is really where I got my experience and sharpened my skills in governance,” he said. “And because of that, I was again given a chance in 2017 to alleviate my experience in public service when I was chosen as a scholar of United Kingdom. So, I went there where I got my masters in Cardiff University in Sustainability Planning and Policy.”
“Now, as sitting mayor, because of my planning background, we really planned well the bypass roads,” he said. “And of course, we really concentrated on job generation. So, as agriculture becomes modernized, we are establishing an economic zone. That is why I have been going around looking for investors.”
Tarlac is now into industrialization because of the New Clark City, he said.
Yap is running under the Nationalist People’s Coalition against PDP Laban’s Faustino Galang.
