PORAC, PAMPANGA. While not the first in the province to appropriate the above title for itself, Porac appears to be more befitting of it, given the solid ground it stands on.
Literally, now, as in the 1,100-hectare masterplanned development named Alviera sited right at the Porac exit of the Subic- Clark- Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).
Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is pouring in P75 billion in investments in the next 20 years to turn Alviera into a central business district (CBD) in Central Luzon.
Within the next five years, ALI said it will invest P8 billion for the first phase of the project comprising of a PEZA-registered industrial park, three residential communities – Ayala Land Premier, Alveo Land and Avida Land, two educational institutions – Miriam College of Quezon City and Holy Angel University of Angeles City, and a country club.
By the time of its completion, Alviera is one thriving community of 65,000 residents 20,000 office and industrial workers, and 20,000 students.
“With ALI’s rich legacy in developing integrated mixed-use communities, Porac will be transformed to a masterplanned estate unlike any other in the province and in the whole of Central Luzon.”
So declared ALI Vice President Meean Dy in a statement that preceded the Alviera launch at the Ayala-owned Marquee Mall in Angeles City late last month, with no less than brothers Fernando Zobel de Ayala, ALI chair, and Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corp. chair, in personal affirmation of Dy’s declaration.
“Makati, Nuvali in Laguna, and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig all stand as a testament to the kind of development the region can expect from Alviera.” As though any further convincing was needed from Dy.
Makati, so is generally conceded, was birthed and bred by the Ayalas. Wherever the Ayalas therefore set even but their toehold, becomes another Makati. With all its cosmopolitan symbolisms and synonyms of luxury and wealth.
Porac appears so blessed, having caught the eye of the Ayalas. By the accident of geography, despite its local government’s unmaking. But that is another story. MABALACAT CITY. As early as his third term… or was it the fourth, or the fifth, or the sixth… whichever, anyways, Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales has arrogated upon his domain the honorific “The Next Makati North of Manila.”
Not so much to attract the Ayalas to invest, as to make Makati as the template of development in Mabalacat. Hence, the visioning of a central business district in the northern part of the city with the Xevera development – where the new city hall is located – as one hub.
To make this happen, Morales said his city would adopt the World Bank’s “City Development Strategies” which he called the benchmark and model for fast-rising global cities. He even had a price tag for his Makati dream: P3 billion, which unfortunately, he did not say from where it would be sourced.
This notwithstanding, everything about Morales, anything about Mabalacat have since orbited around the leitmotif that is “The Next Makati North of Manila.” Serving, indeed, as the clarion call, the very cause of cityhood for Mabalacat in 2012.
Two years hence, “The Next Makati North of Manila” remains Morales’ pipe, if not wet, dream. So should the city cede that title to Porac altogether now? Not by a long shot, from the corner of some keen political observers.
Absent of the Ayalas even, Mabalacat City can still lay as much claim to being the “Makati of the North” as Porac.
As Makati is as much the Ayalas’ as the Binays’. And in that latter aspect does the “Makati of the North” for Mabalacat City gain proper credence. The Binays’ full control of the reins of Makati finds parallelism with Morales’ viselike grip on governance of Mabalacat.
The Makati mayorship having been held since 1986 in succession by Jejomar Binay for three terms, his wife Elenita for a single term, by her husband again for three terms, and now by their son Jun-Jun already for two terms.
The Mabalacat mayorship having been held by Morales, alone, since 1995, and still counting. Some shared destiny there. Given then that Mabalacat City is the “Makati of the North,” it follows that Morales is the “Binay North of Manila.”
Some sense of foreboding here. Mabalacat City. The Next Makati North of Manila. Seemingly hollow sloganeering turned abjectly all too real. For all the wrong reasons.
