MABALACAT CITY – Traffic congestion is not a sole monopoly of Metro Manila. In this city, traffic woes have spun ideas on how to untangle the daily gridlock, even before it gets worse by the time nearby Clark Freeport hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this January.
Mayor Marino Morales and members of the city council have passed a resolution urg-ing the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), a state-firm that manages the Clark Freeport, toopen the Dau-Clark Gate along the Mabalacat Road of the freeport to decongest the business district in Barangay Dau.
Morales said the reopening of the gate, once extensively used during the times of the Americans at the former US Clark Air Force Base, would decongest not only Dau but also Barangay Mabiga.
Theseareas provide routes, especially the MacArthur highway, towards the freeport from other northern provinces, as well as the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx).
“It will also allow convenient transport for tens of thousands of workers at Clark and thus boost even their work efficiency,” Morales said.
Clark provides employment to over 70,000 folk from provinces around the freeport.
“The rush hour at the central business district of Dau has reached alarming proportions. There is a need to decongest the old MacArthur Highway,” Morales noted.
CDC Environmental Department chief Juan Miguel Fuentes said the CDC had earmarked P90 million for the further development of the Mabalacat East Road, the backroad that will link Mabalacat Gate to the SM City Clark mall at the freeport’s main gate in neighboring Angeles City.
Morales urged the CDC to open the Dau- Clark Gate in time for Clark’s hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this January.
About 1,700 participants, including foreign government ministers, are expected to attend the month-long summit at Clark. Morales said the improvement of the Mabalacat East Road would “provide seamless ingress and egress within the city limits because the central business district of Dau is already congested particularly during peak hours.”
Morales said “the city government would like to see the opening of the vital road (East Road) for the benefit of the travelling public.” “Residents from the villages of Dolores, Atlu-Bola, San Joaquin, Poblacion, Sta. Ines, San Francisco and so forth can utilize the Mabalacat East Road in going to SM Clark or Angeles City.”
The Dau-Clark Gate was built during the time of the US military base which abandoned Clark in 1991 after almost a century of stay. Filipino workers at the former US facility used the gate for entry. When Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991, the gate provided access to a “tent city” built within Clark for victims of the eruption.
Morales and other Mabalacat officials expressed confidence that CDC President Arthur Tugade would act favorably on their petition. “The Mabalacat Business Club earlier also supports the opening of Dau-Clark Gate,” said businessman Alex Pineda said.
