Pampanga, Tarlac dispute Clark area

MABALACAT, Pampanga – This town’s mayor has insisted that thousands of hectares within the still undeveloped Sacobia area of the sub-zone of the Clark special economic zone (CSEZ) are part of his town amid alleged moves of Tarlac officials to have them declared as part of Tarlac province.

Mayor Marino Morales wrote Gov. Lito Lapid last Friday to urge him and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to settle the issue with their counterparts in Tarlac, citing "volumes of documents proving that the area belongs to Mabalacat and Pampanga."

The Sacobia area was declared as sub-zone of the CSEZ under the administrative jurisdiction of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC). It covers about 30,000 hectares of still undeveloped land, including hills where treasure hunters claim the fabled Yamashita treasure was kept.

Morales, in his letter to Lapid, was not clear on which parts of the 30,000-hectare area in the sub-zone he was referring to, since some barangays, mostly inhabited by Aetas, have always been known to belong to Tarlac. Such is the case of San Martin, a community of Aetas who, in past elections, had always voted as residents of Bamban, Tarlac.

While the CDC has administrative jurisdiction over the 4,500-hectare main economic zone and the Sacobia sub-zone, it is mandated to remit five percent of its gross income earned (GIE) to local government units that have territorial jurisdiction over the CSEZ and its sub-zone.

"We wish to bring to your kind attention the matter of possible boundary dispute between the provinces of Tarlac and Pampanga as we have it on good information that Gov. Jose Yap of Tarlac is initiating moves to annex portions of areas now occupied by Mabalacat," Morales said in his letter to Lapid.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is inspecting the Sacobia area today to determine the exact boundary of the two provinces.

Morales said, "We have sought advice from lawyers and we were informed that the settlement of boundary disputes involving municipalities of different provinces rests with the (provincial boards) concerned".

He said they are in possession of documents supporting Mabalacat’s claim over wide areas in Sacobia, noting that former President Fidel Ramos cited these same documents in issuing the executive order declaring Sacobia as a sub-zone of the CSEZ.