PORAC, Pampanga – The spanking new P370-million municipal building here – inspired by no less than the US Library of Congress – was inaugurated today, Feb. 5, by the town’s most celebrated personality, Sen. Lito M. Lapid.
Lapid was warmly welcomed by Poraqueños at the new town hall sited on a three-hectare property donated by the family of the late Genaro M. Dimalanta who served as vice mayor in 1960-1963.
Acting Mayor Myla B. Clarete extended the townspeople’s gratitude to Lapid for working on the allotment of funds for the new municipal hall.
“Ang bayan po ng Porac at ang lokal na pamahalaan ay taos-pusong nagpapasalamat sa ating butihing senador Lito Lapid, sa kanyang pagsusumikap na mabigyan ng pondo ang pagpapatayo sa ating bagong munisipyo. Ang kanyang pagmamalasakit sa aming mga Poraqueños ay labis po naming kinikilala at pinapahalagahan,” Clarete said.
Accordint to the acting mayor, the construction of the building started in 2021 and it was funded by the Department of Public Works and Highways, while the transfer of the seat of the municipality from Barangay Poblacion to its present site at the Circumferential Road in Barangay Cangatba is made by virtue of Municipal Ordinance No. 01, Series of 2025.
John Paul L. Martinez, acting municipal information officer and executive assistant to the mayor, said the iconic building was inspired from the US Library of Congress. “The architectural design was made by the DPWH and the three hectares is master-planned to be a government center with other offices to be erected soon,” he said.
Martinez added that the new Porac Police Station, which was also inaugurated yesterday, is part of the municipal hall complex.
He disclosed that the construction of the new Porac town hall is just one of the infrastructure projects built in Porac through the support of Lapid. The senator is seeking re-election for a fourth term in the May 12 elections.
Prior to his stint in the Senate, Lapid served as three-termer governor of Pampanga from 1995 to 2004. He also served as vice governor from 1992 to 1995.
Lapid is one of the seasoned legislators who authored meaningful social legislations in the 14thCongress, notably the Free Legal Assistance Act of 2010, which seeks to ensure that the poor may be afforded free quality legal service.
During the filing of his certificate of candidacy last October, Lapid announced that he will seek for an expansion of this law should he win in the mid-term elections in May.
In the 15th Congress, Lapid filed 239 measures earning him the distinction as the fifth most prolific members of the Senate. The Senate log lists him as principal author of the Comprehensive Unilateral Hearing Loss Research and Development and Rehabilitation Act, and co-author of other legislations, notably the Meat Labeling Act of 2011, Urban Agriculture and Vertical Farming Act, Corporate Social Responsibility Act, Kindergarten Education Act, and the Adopt-A-Wildlife Species Act, among others.
As the chairman of the Senate Committee on Games, Amusement and Sports, Lapid saw to it that measures are in motion to sufficiently ensure the development of sports in the grassroots, seeing to it that the youth develop a keen interest on participation to sports competition.
Unity for Porac after 18 years of political estrangement
Lapid is now running with the support of Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda and Vice Gov. Lilia “Nanay” Pineda. The vice governor joined Lapid in the inauguration rites.
In the 2007 local elections, then-board member Lilia Pineda ran against the-Governor Mark T. Lapid, eldest son of Senator Lapid, and suspended priest Eddie “Among Ed” T. Panlilio.
In the coming May 12 elections, the Lapid and Pineda families have reunited especially in the political scene in Porac.
Former councilor Michael “Mike” Tapang, who is running for the mayoralty race and the standard-bearer of the Pineda family in Porac, said that the two families as well as the other political stalwarts in Porac have united to “save and revive Porac’s dignity” after it was dragged into the POGO scam.
“Ang matagal po naming pangarap na tunay na pagkakaisa para sa Porac, ngayon po ay natupad na. Ang pamilya ng mga Lapid at ng mga Pineda, kasama ng mga pamilya ng dati nating mayors sa Porac – ay nagkaisa upang sagipin ang aming bayan sa pagkadawit nito sa nakakalungkot na usapin ng POGO,” Tapang said.
“Ang hangad po namin ay isulong ang tunay na pag-unlad ng Porac, ibalik ang dignidad ng aming mga kababayan, at palaguin ang mga negosyo, kabuhayan, at edukasyon ng bawat Poraqueño,” Tapang added.
Tapang’s line-up includes Vincent Lusung for vice-mayor, Atty. Tet Buan, Bong Buan, Rito Buan,Max Bungque, Dexter David, Papa Duds David, Alfer Nacu, and Maynard Lapid for councilors. Punto News Team/PR
The post Lapid leads inauguration of P370-M Porac town hall appeared first on Punto! Central Luzon.