Rep. Martin G. Romualdez of Leyte said here last week that Leyteños are grateful to Kapampangans because in the aftermath of the devastation wrought by Super Typhoon Yolanda in Leyte in November 2013, one of the first to respond was Pampanga.
Romualdez also said “Pampanga could be a model for us on how to rise up from tragedy” because Pampanga was able to show its resiliency after the eruption of the most destructive volcanic eruption in the century: that of Mt. Pinatubo.
Romualdez, the only senatorial candidate of the Lakas-CMD party of former president andnow detained Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, visited his mother’s ancestral mansion in Barangay San Francisco here last Thursday after going around the province’s second and fourth districts distributing relief goods to victims of Typhoon Lando.
“Now as we slowly begin to rise up from the strongest typhoon in history we see Pampanga as our model,” he said.
“Tingnan mo lang pagkatapos ng Pinatubo akala ng lahat tapos na ang Pampanga. Tingnan mo naman ngayon, lumalago pa ang ekonomiya dito at umuusad at napakaganda na ehemplo kung papaano tayo makakabangon sa isang delubyong volcanic eruption (Just look after Pinatubo, everybody thought it’s the end of Pampanga. Look again now, its economy is growing and progressing and it’s a beautiful example of how we can rise from a destructive volcanic eruption), the worst volcanic eruption in the entire world,” Romualdez said.
“Kami ngayon sa Leyte tinitingnan namin kung paano ginanap, anong nagawa ninyo dito sa Pampanga na bumangon kayo (We in Leyte, we are studying how you did it, what you’ve done here in Pampanga in order to rise again),” he pointed out.
He said he went around the province and saw for himself how Kapampangans were able to rise up again.
“Sa Yolanda mukhang napabayaan naman kami (In Yolanda it looks like we were neglected),” he lamented.
On APEC and decongesting Metro Manila
Romualdez said he is against holding the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in Manila because of the inconvenience it brought on the public.
“Ako tutol ako dyan (I am against it),” he said. Romualdez said it is more convenience for everybody including the APEC delegates to hold the leaders’ summit in Clark and Subic.
“Ever since I am in favor of upgrading the current facilities in Clark first of all as it is it is already superior to what we have in Manila,” he said.
“The facility to create a proper second runway for wide bodied jets is possible in Macapagal airport. Now I do not know maybe they have a problem with the name because in truth Clark is not only for APEC,” he explained.
“Sa totoo lang po sa Tacloban airport na nakapangalan kay Speaker Daniel C. Romualdez nung bago bumaba si GMA may funding na itong airport improvements. Nung umupo itong president natin nawala at ni-realign na lang yung pera sa sinasabing DAP yung dineklarang unconstitutional ng Supreme Court (The truth of the matter is in Tacloban airport which is named after Speaker Daniel C. Romualdez, before GMA step down it already has funding for airport improvements. But when our president came to power the funds were realigned to DAP which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court),”Romualdez lamented.
“How can we have realignment from our savings to the DAP when the project isn’t even finished yet in fact it hasn’t even been started,” he said.
“That is why I am in favor of decongestion and we do that through decentralization, through devolution of authority, resources and empowering the local government unit so that infrastructure and also the business climate through appropriate policies for business incentives in the areas outside Manila would spur further growth,” Romualdez explained.
“If the APEC summit was held in Clark or Subic because the needed infrastructures are here, then the motorists and the commuting public will not be inconvenienced so much as what is happening now especially the airline riding public,” he said.
“Bakit mag sisiksikan pa tayo dyan sa Manila maayos at maganda naman ang mga facilities natin dito sa Clark at Subic (Why should we jostle each other in Manila when our facilities here in Clark and Subic are in order and good),” Romualdez said.
“The solution to Metro Manila is decongestion. It’s the logical thing to do,” he added.
Adding another airport in the Metro Manila area will not solve anything. It will only create more traffic and congestion in an already very, very traffic clogged congested streets, he pointed out.
That is the reason why federalism is popular in Mindanao and even in Cebu, he said, because the funds and resources of government do not reach them.
“Huwag naman lahat ng pera ma-imbudo dyan sa Metro Manila dapat mag expand na tayo and let’s expand further to the north (Let’s not funnel all the money to Metro Manila because we need to expand further…),” he said.
