35 KILOMETERS APART IN PAMPANGA : Estrada inaugurates bridge as Cory leads rally

FLORIDABLANCA, Pampanga — President Estrada is slated to inaugurate a P73-million bridge in Barangay Consuelo here today, while former President Corazon Aquino, some 35 kilometers away in Angeles City, will lead a rally calling for his immediate resignation.

Employees of government agencies said they have been asked to attend the inauguration of the bridge which was damaged by lahar flows several years ago.

The President is expected to deliver a speech at the site where workers rushed a makeshift stage yesterday. Families of Air Force personnel at the nearby Basa Air Base are expected to attend the event.

The Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM), headed by Angeles businessman Ruperto Cruz, said Mrs. Aquino is expected to lead today’s rally in front of the Sto. Rosario Cathedral in Angeles starting at 1:30 p.m.

The PGKM recently joined the growing number of non-government organizations in Pampanga demanding Mr. Estrada’s resignation after Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson linked him to millions of pesos in jueteng payoffs.

Mrs. Aquino also led another rally organized by businessmen in the capital town of San Fernando last week.

The PGKM blamed cronyism under the Estrada administration for delays in the development of the 2,200-hectare Clark airport into a premiere international airport.

The group cited the administration’s amended contract with the Philippine International Air Terminal Corp. (Piatco) which barred the government from developing any other international passenger terminal in Luzon until Piatco’s proposed new terminal for the old Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has served no less than 10 million passengers in three consecutive years.

Marcelo Rivera, assistant director of the Department of Public Works and Highways, said the President is expected to arrive in Barangay Consuelo at about 10 a.m. today.

The new bridge, about 900 linear meters long, was built by three contractors, including the firm which built the so-called "Erap bridge" which partially collapsed recently in Barangay Pandan, Angeles City.

In Davao City, meanwhile, another group, the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan, has joined the Erap-Resign movement. — With Edith Regalado