Porac town and the pandemic
Just like the mythical King Sisypus who miserably failed to place on the apex the boulder, I feel at times that my hometown of Porac can’t push the ‘heavy stone’ up to the top. The town, these last few years, is scoring so much success success. I even predicted that it will become a city in ten or so years. Now this pandemic just as everything good s kicking in. Corona virus is spoiling the fun, so to speak. Is it because there’s a curse? I am going ahead of my story. For a background. Some few years ago the townspeople were overjoyed because developer Ayala Land Inc.(ALI) poured a hooping P100 billion in their Alviera project, a mixed use live, work and play community. The once lethargic town where I spent my childhood suddenly became prominent in the map. At last, it became an investment destination.
The Ayalas chose Hacienda Dolores the barangay near the expressway’s toll plaza. The government’s SCTEX highway unlocked the value of the lands in that area. The project was planned as destination for Metro Manilans who may wish to relocate after the ominous signs that the West Valley Fault may make its movement and a big portion the metropolis will be affected. Repeatedly Rene Solidum, the country's chief volcanologist, made that forecast in several media interviews.
In the mid-fifties there were only few people in Porac then, and not a single industry or a manufacturing company in the town. Both sides of the nine kilometer road stretch from Porac to Angeles was almost planted to sugar cane, the basic produce. In a book written by my friend Ed Sibug, he mentioned that in 1936, Warner, Barnes & Company Ltd, an American enterprise operated a 24 hour-a-day factory on a 400 hectare farm in Hacienda Ramona (Dolores) and it closed for good even before the war erupted in the early fourties due to stiff competition. And also due to the prevailing peace and order condition at that time.
My late mother, Beatriz Lumanlan I remember telling us that during the Japanese occupation, our family evacuated to Sabanilla, a sitio of Hacienda Dolores which in those years was a place so secluded and can only be reached by foot. And that a large hectarage was co-owned by his father Ceferino and siblings Alberto and Ceasar i a.
Old documents shared to me by a Nards Angeles, a cabalen, showed that the biggest landowner holding a title to more than 2,000 hectares were the spouse Don Gregorio and Maria Macapinlac. But later sold to their nephew, Jose C. Macapinlac. And in 1932 it changed hand again, and this time a millionaire from Jaro, Iloilo Don Francisco Rapide and Maria Lopez Saenz acquired the property.
The Jaro Don appointed the brothers Jesus and Tomas Lopez Saenz as supervisor and administrator respectively. Over the years, the land changed to several hands. The sisters Enriqueta Michel Champourcin and Maria Michel who married a Hidalgo for a time owned the land but the latter mortgaged it for one million pesos to the Overseas Bank of Manila. Somehow in between the ownership
Noong Hulyo 15, anim na police officers ang ni-relieved ni Brig. Gen. Rhodel Sermonia, Police Regional Office III (PRO-3) di r ect or.
Ang kanyang mga ni-relieve sa kani-kanialng puwesto ay sina Lt. Col. Renato Morales; Major Rhoderick Corpuz; Major Estevan dela Cruz; at Major Rodolfo Racho, pawang nakatalaga sa Nueva Ecija; Major Leo Dela Rosa at Major Gregorio Santos, kapwa nakatalaga sa Bulacan Police.
Si Morales ay natalaga sa Bulacan Police samantalang sina Corpuz, Dela Cruz at Racho itinalaga naman sa Tarlac Police.
Samantala si Dela Rosa inilipat naman sa PRO-3 headquarters at si Santos sa Pampanga Police Office.
Sa ginawang pagbalasa ni Sermonia sa anim na police officers ay nag-react si San Antonio Mayor Arvin Salonga.
Kung ano-ano ang binanat ni mayor kay Sermonia sa biglaang pag-relieve nito sa anim na mga police officer.
Hindi raw makatwiran ang ginawang reshuffle ni Sermonia ayon pa sa pahayag ni Salonga.
Na kung saan ayon sa mayor, wala umano sa proseso ang ginawang pagrelieve ni Sermonia sa nasabing mga police officer s.
Hindi umano nalaman nito na iri-relieve ang mga police officers na walang pasabi sa mga local government units.
Dap at lamang kinunsulta muna nito ang mga alkalde sa kanyang gagawin pag-relieve.
Ang sagot naman ni BGen. Sermonia sa banat ni mayor ay mayroon daw policy ang PNP na kung saan kapag umabot sa 10-year stay of duty ang isang non-commissioned police officer ay maari o kinakailangan na itong i-relieved at ilipat ng kanyang assignment.
Kahit na wala itong naging record ay kinakailangan na itong ilipat dahil sa 10-year stay, ayon pa sa pahayag ni Sermonia.
Bakit naman mga taga Nueva Ecija police
lamang ang ni-reshuffle ni BGen. Sermonia, tanong ng ibang opisyales.
E dami naman mga non-commissioned police officer na mayroon ng 10-year stay sa mga lalawigan ng Pampanga, Tarlac, Bataan, Bulacan, Olongapo City, at Angeles City, bakit di raw nasama sa reshuffle? Nagtatanong lang po...
Ito ba pinili lang ni Sermonia? Tanong po nila...