CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Pres. Aquino invaded last Friday ex-President Arroyo’s Pampanga turf to debunk allegations Kapampangans have allowed themselves to be “chained” to personalities linked to anomalies.
“The Aquinos have Kapampangan roots and have Kapampangan blood,” he stressed.
In his speech before some 2,000 local Liberal Party leaders and supporters at the Heroes Hall here, the President again harped on the alleged failures of the Arroyo administration during her presidency that, he noted, lasted about nine and a half years.
Senatorial candidates of the Liberal Party were also present during the meeting.
The President particularly cited the failure of the Arroyo administration to solve the annual flooding problem in Pampanga.
Arroyo is from Lubao in the second district of Pampanga where she is seeking re-election as congresswoman against lawyer Vivian Dabu, former provincial administrator of former Gov. Eddie Panlilio.
Panlilio is LP’s candidate vs. Gov. Lilia Pineda, known as a close friend of Arroyo.
Aquino also noted the failure of Arroyo to act on the crumbling Arnedo Dike which was built in 1940 for a lifespan of 50 years.
Despite being president for nine and a half years, the former president failed to act on the dike along the Pampanga River and thus endangered local folk during the rainy season, Aquino said.
He then bared the allocation of P2.9 billion for the dredging of 32 kilometers of the silted Pampanga River and the elevation of the grounds of about 100 schools in flood prone areas.
The President said he was now optimistic about the end of flooding in Pampanga.
The President noted that while he has been in office for only two years and nine months, he was able to provide power to sitios which had never been reached by electricity. In Pampanga alone, 77 sitios have been electrified, he added.