PRESIDENT Arroyo signed into law Sunday the
bill creating the Bacolor Rehabilitation Council (BRC) intended
to complete rehabilitation of Bacolor town in Pampanga which was
buried in lahar and other volcanic debris following the eruption
of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.
The BRC will be chaired by the regional
director of the National Economic and Development Authority -
Regional Office 3 with the mayor of Bacolor as vice chair. The
council will have as members the governor of Pampanga; the
regional directors of the Departments of Public Works and
Highways, Agriculture, and Trade and Industry; Lower House
representatives from Pampanga’s third district or his authorized
representative; the president of the Chamber of Commerce and
Industries of Bacolor; and a representative each from the
academe and a non-government organization.
The BRC is tasked mainly to draft a
comprehensive rehabilitation plan for Bacolor which shall be
submitted to the President for approval; and to meet regularly
to evaluate the progress of the rehabilitation plan.
The BRC law, authored by Sen. Benigno Aquino
III and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., will set aside P1.5
billion in special funds in the 2009 budget for use of the
council.
Arroyo, after the signing ceremonies,
proceeded to San Isidro in Nueva Ecija to visit the family of
the late Leofolo Tecson, who died after being hit by a runaway
army truck that accompanied the presidential convoy from Cabiao
in Nueva Ecija last Sept. 11.
Presidential Security Group commander Brig.
Gen. Celedonio Boquiren said Tecson’s family was given monetary
help, including scholarship, livelihood and burial assistance
immediately after the accident.
Similar cash and livelihood assistance was also provided to
Ronel Tecson who was also injured in the accident. Tecson and
Odulio were on a tricycle when the army truck carrying the K-9
unit of the PSG reportedly lost its brakes and rammed into them
in San Isidro. The two were rushed to the Good Samaritan
Hospital in Gapan with the PSG and the Presidential Management
Staff shouldering their medical needs. – Jocelyn D.
Montemayor
