Residents of coastal barangays of Lubao and nearby municipalities will soon have a safe place to stay in temporarily when perennial floods threaten their villages.
This, after the Lubao local government, led by Mayor Esmie G. Pineda, initialized the P50 million multi-purpose evacuation center donated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) in Barangay Sta. Catalina here.
PAGCOR chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrea D. Domingo personally turned-over the P50-million cheque to the LGU to bankroll the construction of the two-storey building, the sixth of its kind to be erected in Pampanga.
The building will complement the 24-hectare government property that currently houses regional and provincial evacuation sites, COVID-19 isolation facility, municipal material recovery facility and the nearby Lubao Bamboo Hub and Ecopark.
Mayor Pineda said the building will serve well residents of the coastal barangays of Sta. Tereza II (Lambiki), Bancal Pugad and Bancal Sinubli, whose quickest access to the town proper is via the Porac-Gumain river that runs beside the Bamboo Hub.
“Even other barangays of the Second District [of Pampanga] will benefit from this project,” Mayor Pineda said.
Pampanga Governor Dennis ‘Delta’ Pineda, Vice Governor Lilia Pineda, Second District Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo and former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were also present during the groundbreaking rites.
Governor Delta, who initiated the Bamboo Hub complex project when he was the mayor of Lubao, has tasked the municipal government to conduct a study of lined-canal in the area as preparation for future developments.
The Arroyo mother and son tandem, on the other hand, appealed for more budget from PAGCOR for projects that could support the initial P50-million building.
Domingo, in her speech, bared that Pampanga has always been among her priorities in the PAGCOR’s thrust under the Duterte administration’s “Build. Build. Build” program.
PAGCOR is currently funding the construction of a P500-million OFW Hospital in Pampanga, which the gaming firm will also furnish with P200 million worth of equipment.
Domingo, who has also served as Immigration commissioner under the Arroyo presidency, is a Kapampangan.
