By BONG LACSON
Punto! Central Luzon
A PAMPANGA-based multisectoral group is offering President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III an alternative official home, given that he refuses to move into Malacañang and his Quezon City neighbors don’t want him to hold official residence on Times Street.
The Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement suggests Aquino consider building a home at the former American military facility, Clark Air Base in Angeles City.
“The best place for President Noynoy’s Malacanang is the Clark Freeport,” said PGKM chairman Ruperto Cruz.
“All security concerns are addressed by Clark, being a walled enclave, all its gates highly secured and the 600th Air Base Wing of the Philippine Air Force located there,” Cruz said. “President Noynoy will also be on home grounds in Clark, lying as it is within Tarlac and Pampanga.”
Pivotal to the President’s security, as well as mobility too, Cruz added, is the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.
Aquino has ruled out living in Malacañang, but neither can he continue staying at the old family home on Times Street in Quezon City. Aquino’s daily commuting between Times Street and his Malacañang office would be a daily nightmare not only to his security detail but to his neighbors as well.
Meanwhile, the Arlegui Mansion that served as the official residence of his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, had been returned to its official owner.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that the Arlegui Mansion be given back to Tarcila Laperal-Mendoza, who lost the house after it was confiscated during the martial law years. The mansion now commands a bid of P1 billion.
Instead of buying the Arlegui Mansion for P1 billion, the same amount would go a long way in building a new Malacanang Palace in Clark, Cruz said
“With his official residence in Clark, the remotest points in the country are just an airport away, and President Noynoy need not expose himself to traffic and security issues as he would in using the Manila airport,” he said.
The whole of Clark Field with its over 25,000 hectares, Cruz said, can be transformed by Aquino as the country’s new government capital.
“There is space for all government departments, even for foreign embassies at Clark. A move toward that direction will not only decongest but even de-imperialize Metro Manila,” Cruz said.