P-Noy in first official visit to Pampanga, Pangasinan

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines  – President Aquino is slated today to make his first official visit to this province and Pangasinan since he assumed the presidency. This province is hinted as the turf of his perceived political adversary, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who hails from Lubao town.

In this Freeport, the President is expected to lead the ground breaking rites for the P200-million Medical City within the Global Gateway Logistics City (GGLC), a business park which his predecessor former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had inaugurated way back in August 2008.

The President was initially slated to attend the blessing of the first airbus aircraft of SeaAir at the Diosdado Maca­pagal International Airport (DMIA) here, but sources from the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) said Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose de Jesus will represent him instead.

It is not clear whether the President would be arriving here from Pangasinan or proceed to the province after his appointments here. In Pangasinan, he is scheduled to inaugurate some 100 yellow-painted core houses built on the mountain slopes of Barangay Dacap Sur.

The core shelters were built in an area called “Burubor ni Ayat (Fountain of Love)” as a joint project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the municipal government, and the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP). The area covers five hectares donated by the municipal government.

The beneficiaries were victims of typhoon “Emong,” which devastated the province in May 2009.

The DSWD provided P7 million for the project and another P1.8 million for the cash-for-work program, while the UNWFP provided some P2.1 million for the food-for-work scheme that enabled the beneficiaries to build their houses.

The Medical City here is a project of the Pasig-based Medical City Hospital owned and operated by Professional Services, Inc., and will serve as a hub for its Central Luzon outpatient clinics. The new hub will have around 200 beds.

Earlier, Medical City bought the Global Medical Network from Evangeline Johnson for P150 million. The Global Medical Network includes the Great Savior International Hospital in Iloilo, Mercedes Medical Center in Pampanga, and three outpatient clinics in Dagupan, Cavite and Olongapo.

The network caters to United States military veterans living in the Philippines. Its founder, Johnson, is now a shareholder in Medical City.