San Fernando supports call to preserve Paskuhan Village
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO---The City Govern ment of San Fernando headed by Mayor Edwin “EdSa” Santiago on Friday disclosed it is supporting the move of Pampanga Third District Representative Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales, Jr. to preserve Paskuhan Village and make it a permanent cultural heritage.
On February 20, Gonzales filed House Bill No. 7207 declaring the Paskuhan Village, also known as the Hilaga property as a cultural heritage and further declaring it as property of public domain.
“The position of the LGU is that we preserve its being ‘paskuhan’ or a village that has year-round Christmas activities as our vision for it is it is a part of San Fernando being the home of giant lanterns. That is why Paskuhan’s heritage name should remain,” Santiago said.
“If that is sold, the heritage name of Paskuhan is already lost, together its being a symbol of San Fernando,” he added.
The village was purchased by Premier Central, Inc. from the government through the Tourism
Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) for nearly P1-billion sometime in 2016.
In his explanatory note in the bill, Gonzales said that the Paskuhan Village be declared by means of law as cultural heritage, national treasure and property of public domain to prevent its sale and disposition to private properties for purely commercial purposes.
Gonzales noted that although the deed of sale between TIEZA and Premier had been signed by both parties, the certificate of title to the property has not been transferred yet to the buyer because of the congressional investigation initiated last year in the House of Representatives.
Santiago said that at the very start, it has been a mandate of government agencies like Tieza to support tourism. “The reason they said they sold it is that they could no longer operate it, that they should reinvest. Paskuhan should get a loan or partnership. They should not sell it but ask the local government unit (LGU) since it has the right of first refusal. That is why Cong Dong is pushing for Paskuhan’s return to the LGU and proceeds returned to SMDC. But that is still a process.”
“But we in the LGU support the move of Cong Dong because his concerns are for Fernandinos. I repeat, what we just want is that Paskuhan reflects our culture and heritage as Fernandinos and more importantly, for tourism development. If the national government funds its maintenance and operations, then we can manage it,” stressed Santiago.
Earlier, Gonzales called for the probe under the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chaired by Representative Johnny Pimentel of Surigao Del Sur.
After a series of hearings, the Committee declared the alleged public bidding was a farce, Gonzales said in his explanatory note.
Under Gonzales' proposed measure, the operation and management of the village shall be devolved to the local government of the City of San Fernando which shall be responsible for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the village.
As proposed, all revenues that will be earned by the local government of San Fernando in the operation of the village shall be considered as trust fund and shall be used only for its operation.
The Paskuhan Village was inaugurated on December 11, 1990, a brainchild of the late Pampanga Governor Bren Z. Guiao and former Tourism Undersecretary Mina Gabor.
It is the first of its kind in Asia and the third in the world. The other two are in the United States and Germany.-