This was how Mayor Edwin “Edsa” D. Santiago described the “Welcome San Fernando Pampanga’s Best Interchange” signs that will be put up by the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) Corp. and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MNTC) in the interchange structure leading to this capital city as well as to the 19 directional signs along the NLEx bearing the name San Fernando.
In a letter to NLEx Corp. and MNTC president Rodrigo E. Franco and Pampanga’s Best, Inc. president Angelo D. Hizon dated May 2, 2017, Santiago also asked that “the intention to rename the NLEx San Fernando interchange to San Fernando Pampanga’s Best Interchange be held in abeyance or set aside for the common good…”
The mayor said the naming rights “came as a surprise since the city government was not privy to the talks, if any, leading to the deal.”
“We contend that the local government units that the interchange is located, at the very least, should have been notified of such transactions which should have included the city government, the provincial government of Pampanga and the barangays where the subject interchange/ tollways are particularly located,” the mayor asserted.
Santiago said it would have been more appropriate if the sign “Welcome to the City of San Fernando From: Pampanga’s Best (Original Tocino)” will be put up.
But “the sign San Fernando Pampanga’s Best Interchange may not sit well with our constituents.”
The mayor added that “there are lingering doubts as to the propriety of the deal between MPTC and Pampanga’s Best leading to the sale of the naming rights to the NLEx San Fernando Interchange.”
He said “to be sure, the City of San Fernando, Pampanga is not in any way connected with Pampanga’s Best, a private food (processing) company.”
Santiago said a private firm “cannot unilaterally make representations for the City of San Fernando, Pampanga” and “cannot claim exclusivity to the extent of monopolizing the roads leading to and from the City of San Fernando, Pampanga through the NLEx interchange/tollways.”
The mayor underscored that “it is not proper for MPTC to negotiate and sell the naming rights of the NLEx San Fernando interchange to Pampanga’s Best.”
Santiago stated that “interchange or tollways are beyond the commerce of man” which are “non-alienable including the naming rights to them following the principle that the cause or object did not exist at the time of the transaction” which also render the deal “void.”
The mayor said “the choice of a street name belongs to the legislature.”
The mayor asserted that “the naming rights to the NLEx San Fernando Interchange cannot be the subject of any negotiation or sale without the consent much less knowledge of the local government units concerned” as the renaming of the interchange/ tollways from public to private “entails implications (legal, social, economic and political).”
It can be recalled that on March 27, Pampanga’s Best was given the naming rights to the NLEx San Fernando interchange for an undisclosed amount during a simple ceremony at the Widus Hotel and Casino at the Clark Freeport.