Pampanga's Delta

CONTINUITY, NOT change.

So went the campaign cry of the Kambilan Party in the election past. The nationally acclaimed governance of Pampanga by Gov. Lilia G. Pineda needing to be sustained for the progressive well-being of the cabalens, and with no else but the son, Vice Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda, to bequeath it to.

Now that the son has risen, the call to service has evolved into continuity plus more.

At the turnover of the vice governorship to his mother “Nanay Gov” and the subsequent inaugural session of the sangguniang panlalawigan Wednesday, Gov. Delta presented the nine-point priority agenda of his administration.

Yes, they hewed so close to the programs of Nanay that she could not help but comment with a chuckle, “Cacu la ren, ah. (Those are my programs).”   

Indeed, they were. But more.

Health was the centerpiece of the Pineda administration just past, so inhered in the mother persona of the lady governor. Delta further enhances the program with the expansion of preventive health care and the upgrading of the facilities, equipment and personnel of the provincial and district hospitals.

Education. Sustained educational assistance and increase in the number of beneficiaries. Delta’s initiative here is the establishment of student learning and research centers in the local government units with free internet services and in-house computers.

Peace and Order. The upgrade of police stations, to cover the infrastructures, communications equipment, and additional patrol vehicles. A no-nonsense drug abuse prevention program targeted at the youth, and an equally holistic rehabilitation program for the drug users comprise the “soft approach” of Delta to the scourge of drugs. The “hard” part: strict law enforcement against the pushers, and draconian punishment to the utmost extent allowed by law.

Disaster Management and Environmental Protection. With Delta at the helm, the disaster risk reduction and management in this calamity-prone province has received multiple recognition as one of the finest in the Philippines, indeed, the best with it being bestowed the national Gawad Kalasag award in 2018 by the Office of Civil Defense and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.   

The upgrade of vehicles, rescue and retrieval equipment, and facilities will go hand-in-hand with the proactive initiatives as desilting operations with upgraded equipment for the purpose.

Climate change mitigation programs will be intensified, with the further greening of the coastal areas with more mangrove planting activities. Greening Pampanga will also include reforestation program in Mount Arayat and in the hills and mountain ranges of Porac and Floridablanca, as well as tree-planting in all cities and municipalities of the province. The clean-up of the province’s rivers and their tributaries will be a regular activity.  

Waste management will go beyond the procurement of equipment for trash collection to strict segregation of garbage, recycling, and initiatives toward the establishment of state-of-the-art sanitary landfills with energy-producing components.

Agriculture. Mitigation of the adverse effects of the Rice Tariffication Law on the Capampangan farmers takes utmost priority here, to be complemented with modern agri technology.

Social Service. The least, the last, and the lost will be first and foremost in the social agenda of Delta. Not with simple assistance but greater empowerment will be extended to the senior citizens, PWDs, the youth, women, the LGBTQ, and the indigenous people.

Infrastructure. The maintenance and upgrading of existing road networks and construction of new ones to accommodate increasing motor traffic in the province. More covered courts not only for community socials but as ready evacuation centers in times of calamities. More public school buildings to meet the rising school population.

Organizational Development. Skills-to-position matching among Capitol employees to tap their utmost potentials for effective and efficient service to the Capampangan. Institutionalization of HR training programs for the employees.

Pampanga Megalopolis Plan. Unarguably, the most ambitious plan crafted for the province and developed during Nanay Gov’s administration.  

The legacy of good and effective governance he inherited from his mother no mean feat for him to continue, Governor Delta yet faces the enormous challenge of the gargantuan task of transforming this megaplan into full realization.

With the overwhelming confidence the Capampangan has invested in him, with Nanay Gov and the whole Capitol working with nothing but the interest of Capampangan in their hearts and minds, and yes, the former President herself, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on hand, there is no reason to doubt that Pampanga’s Delta will succeed.