In his State of the Province Address (SOPA) at the session hall of the provincial board, Yap said that the improvement of the province’s public investments will boost their economy and attract more investors. He cited the Balog-Balong Irrigation Multipurpose Project which is expected to be completed at the end of the year, benefitting thousands of farmers reportedly tilling 34,000 hectares of land in this city and the towns of La Paz, Gerona, Pura, Ramos, Panique, Bamban and Concepcion.
The completion of the P349-million irrigation system is expected to boost the rice and vegetable productions of the province which was founded in 1873.
“What’s important is that we create opportunities for our people to lessen the gap between the rich and the poor. That’s my dream,” said Yap at the end of his impromptu speech which lasted for about one hour and 10 minutes.
Yap said their province will definitely get a “fair share” of support from Aquino, who hails from Hacienda Luista here, when asked about the advantage of Tarlac being a presidential home province. He added that the reputation of Aquino as a “fair official” had made them not to ask too much support from him. “We want to avoid being told by President Aquino, ‘don’t be spoiled,’” said Yap.
The second-term governor, son of the late Gov. and Cong. Jose Yap, said the combined budgets of the provincial government “for 20 years” is not enough to fund the rehabilitation of public infrastructure projects such as the flood mitigation system.
He said they need the help of the national government in removing Tarlac from the list as one of the top ten most frequently flooded provinces in the country. But Yap stressed that “if given a change to choose which projects to fund first,” he will ask Aquino to support the Tarlac General Hospital (TGP).
Yap said he was thankful to Aquino for sending Health Secretary Sec. Enrique Ona at the TGP last January to inspect the then on-going construction of the new building of the hospital. He wanted to help the Department of Health (DOH) turn the TGP “as one of the premier hospitals in Region III.”
Yap disclosed that the TGP gets an average of P1,100 fee per patient, including those people given major treatment and operation.
“I think in no other hospital in the country they offer such small fee for their patients,” added Yap.
He said they had generated a total of 12,000 workers since he first became governor in 2007.
(Joey Pavia)
