CONCEPCION, Tarlac—This bucolic town is now open for business despite lack of support from the national government.
Mayor Andres “Andy” D. Lacson said he has laid down the welcome carpet to big local and foreign businesses and industries to put itself at par with the more progressive urban areas of the province, like Tarlac City.
Ironically, this is the hometown of the Philippines’s youngest mayor ever, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, husband of President Cory C. Aquino.
Lacson showed the progress made by this town to attract investors with its modern plaza, public market, well- paved roads and, probably, the most modern police station in the country.
With these developments, Bounty Farms set up an automated plant to process some 60,000 chicken with its output destined for the overseas markets like Japan and to supply the needs of top local fast-food enterprises.
Lacson, who hosted the weekly media forum of the Capampangan in Media Inc. (Cami) here, also disclosed that two locators at the Clark Free Port have decided to move their operations to Concepcion.
One of these business outfits is the energy company, Infinity Solar, which has leased a 56-hectare site for a solar farm in Barangay Santa Rosa.
Infinity declared a start-up capital of P60 million, the 37-year-old mayor said during the forum, that is a joint project of Cami, the Clark Development Corp. and the Social Security System.
Another Clark locator moving here is Omni Aviation School, which has leased a 100-hectare site in
Barangay San Agustin to house its hangars for light planes and other aircraft facilities.
The two companies decided to move here because of land limitation at the Clark Free Port, coupled with the expanding operation of the Clark International Airport.
The mayor said CP Foods International of Thailand has also leased a 50-hectare lot here for its modern farming facility and processing plant.
The Laus group has also constructed and is now operating the most modern dressing plant in Asia here, which provides the whole chicken needs of Japan, he said.
The much, coveted Coach bags, an international brand, are also manufactured here, he added.
Lacson said his administration has for its priority the promotion Concepcion as a hub for food processors, to provide an outlet for the town’s main products: rice, corn and sugar; as well as safe haven for business enterprises, such as corporate farming, banking and finance, trading and other money-making endeavor.
Sadly, he said, there is no support coming from the national government except for the allocation of P200 million funds for the proposed five-story, 100-bed district hospital from the Department of Health and Sen. Bam Aquino, President Aquino’s cousin. The provincial government of Tarlac provided P50 million as counterpart fund and the municipality put in another P5 million.
“We started to modernize our town using our own resources and nothing from the national government,” Lacson said.
We are now building the most modern police station in the country because it has complete facilities.
Lacson said the police station has computerized drone quadchopper security system to initially cover its commercial district in what he described as the country’s first modern police station.
These efforts, Lacson said, are also designed to help improve the economic and social well-being of Concepcion’s 139,832 residents spread over 45 barangays.
Lacson began his political career as a youth leader when, at 19, he was elected barangay chairman. He was later elected municipal councilor and served as vice mayor for three terms before finally becoming mayor.
Lacson is not related to the famous Aquino clan, the members of which, except for the martyred senator, are unpopular among the town’s citizens.
In the 2010 national elections, for instance, majority of Concepcion voters went for Gilbert Teodoro, President Aquino’s cousin, which local citizens speculate the possible reason why the chief executive hardly paid attention to the needs of the town.
Concepcion is described as a first class urban municipality, and the largest municipality of Tarlac, covering some 246,000 square kilometers of mostly agricultural land.
It currently generates some P50 million in annual revenues that Lacson said could quadruple in the years ahead.