In happier times. Now at odds over the Paskuhan compromise agreement are ABC president Vilma Caluag and Cong Dong Gonzales on the anti side, VM Jimmy Lazatin who presides over the SP where the agreement stands to be ratified, and Mayor Edwin Santiago, the proponent of the agreement. FB photograb
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The councilor fast earning the reputation as political gadfly for her exposes in the city council of perceived anomalies has declared strong opposition to the Paskuhan Village compromise agreement between the city government and the Premier Central Inc., (PCI).
Barangay Dolores chair Vilma Caluag, president of the Association of Barangay Captains, said she will not accede to the agreement whereby PCI donated 5,000 square meters of the 9.3-hectare Paskuhan Village to the City of San Fernando.
In an interview with reporters on Monday, Caluag urged the city government to instead strive to get a “considerable portion” of the Paskuhan property which, in her opinion, belongs to the City of San Fernando and the people of Pampanga. Caluag noted that the city had the “right of first refusal” on the issue of the sale of the whole property and not just on a small fraction of it.
She added that the people of the city would not look kindly to the idea that the city had settled for 5, 000-square meters when the property in question is 9.3 hectares.
“I agree with (3rd District) Congressman (Aurelio) Gonzales that the city should get more. Paskuhan Village is part of the cultural heritage of Fernandinos,” Caluag said, vowing that she will vote against the ratification of the said compromise agreement.
It could be remembered that, the village was purchased by Premier Central, Inc. from the government through the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority for nearly P1 billion sometime in 2016.
The Paskuhan Village was inaugurated on December 11, 1990, a brainchild of the late Pampanga Gov. Bren Guiao and former Tourism Secretary Mina Gabor. It is the first of its kind in Asia and the third in the world. The other two permanent Christmas villages are in the United States and Germany.
