Gerona, Tarlac
11 April 2016

After the groundbreaking ceremony of the Clark Green City held in Capas, Tarlac, President Benigno S. Aquino III went to the municipality of Gerona to personally inspect and lead the newly constructed Tagumbao Bridge.

Speaking before the faculty and students of the Corazon C. Aquino High School (CCAHS), President Aquino affirmed that the bridge serves as one of the flagships of the government on the many positive changes achieved over the past six years.

In his statement, he reported that the bridge was completed on 2014 with an allocated budget of PhP 375,250,000 million. The bridge will reduce travel time of the residents from 3 hours to 1.5 hours, and will serve as an alternate route going to Pangasinan.

This project, according to the President, is part of the development on the infrastructure sector of Tarlac province. He reported that the budget given to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was PhP 13.6 billion, compared to the PhP 2.06 billion from 2005 to 2010.

Through this, the Aquino administration was able to spearhead several projects that improved national roads and bridges throughout the country. Three of these were the completion of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway or TPLEX, the Paniqui-Moncada Section of the Manila North Road, and the Sapang Burgos Bridge. President Aquino added that starting this June, the construction of the 30-kilometer Central Luzon Link Expressway will begin, which will connect Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija.

As of the latest, a total of 18,000 kilometers of national roads and 107,000 lineal meters of bridges were constructed across the Philippines in a span of six years.

Likewise, President Aquino gave updates on the current status of Tarlac in terms of agriculture, education, and health. To support Filipino farmers, the government allotted PhP 727.44 million for the construction of farm to market roads, and another PhP 245.48 million for production and post-harvest facilities.

On the construction of classrooms, 1,855 of these were already completed, while 801 are still under construction. These make up the 185,000 classrooms that were built in the whole country for the past six years.

Lastly, PhP 414.57 million was given to support the Health Facilities Enhancement Program in the province. This was used to fund barangay health stations, rural health units, urban health centers, and several municipal and city hospitals.

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