ANGELES CITY- Over two decades since it was devastated by Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption, this city is on its way to becoming a major tourist attraction, boosted by funds worth some P326 million for tourism-related projects meant to be finished before 1,500 delegates arrive here for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit next year.
Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, who is known to inspect ongoing projects regularly even while most local folk are asleep at 3 a.m., said that some 5,000 to 10,000 visitors are expected monthly at the downtown Pamintuan Mansion alone, once it has been fully converted into one of the best museums in the country.
Pamintuan reported in a press briefing that unsightly “spaghetti wires” or the thick tangle of telephone wires hanging from posts, have already been removed in downtown Sto. Rosario in the area of the Holy Rosary parish church.
“Almost all of those ugly wires that look like dirty cobwebs lining our roads are mostly dead wires anyway. It’s just that telecom companies never really removed them even if their subscribers were long gone as most folk moved to using wireless cellphones,” he noted.
Pamintuan said that telecom firms, led by ACCTN have already started moving their fiber optic wires underground as part of the local government’s beautification drive. He also said that plans for the so-called Heritage Plaza in downtown Sto. Rosario are slated to be completed, including the full development of the historic Pamintuan Mansion where Emilio Aguinaldo held the ceremonies for the first anniversary of Philippine Independence in 1899.
“The mansion is now under the National Historical Commission which is converting it into a real museum. There will be a room there to accommodate various Philippine indigenous textiles courtesy of Patis Tesoro,” he said. The Heritage Plaza construction is being rushed also for the APEC summit.
It will consist of a promenade that would extend over the Sapang Balen creek whose top would be covered with a concrete slab to be layered with manicured grass, he added. Pamintuan said that stalls will sell foods cooked by Kapampangans who are legendary for their culinary talent.
