Pantabangan inaugurates P65-million municipal hall

PANTABANGAN, Nueva Ecija, Philippines – A P65-million, three-storey modern municipal hall, considered one of the most spanking town halls in the province, has been inaugurated in this mountain resort town by local officials.

Mayor Romeo Borja Sr. and his namesake son, Board Member Romeo Jr. led the inauguration of the new town hall yesterday coinciding with the “2nd Pandawan Festival” of the municipality. The four-day festival was graced by Gov. Aurelio Umali, second district Rep. Joseph Violago and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Director Jose Taruc IV.

Borja Sr. said that the new town hall is his administration’s gift to the people of Pantabangan whose old township covering 8,100 hectares was submerged to give way to the construction of the giant Pantabangan Dam in 1973, erasing from the map seven barangays and displacing hundreds of families. Borja said that the new building, complete with landscapes, will further upgrade the delivery of vital basic and frontline services to the local constituency. It would also provide a conducive workplace for municipal employees, he said.

The existing town hall, which is located beside the new one, will be turned into a guesthouse by the municipal administration. Borja said that aside from the town hall, the municipal government also completed infrastructure and education projects such as road concreting, construction and rehabilitation of schoolbuildings, streetlights, farm-to-market roads and a satellite town hall in Barangay Ganduz.

Henry Pascual, project development officer of the municipal government, said that the projects cost roughly between P200 to P300 million.

Other highlights of the Pandawan Festival were the blessing of the newly refurbished Pag-Asa Gym project of Violago, trade fair and exhibits, PESO livelihood bazaar, cultural competitions among others. Borja Sr. explained that the festival is a manifestation of hope for bountiful blessings from the town’s forest and hydro resources. “Pandawan,” is a word known only to the people of Pantabangan. It means “Pagdalaw sa Pagaani” (Harvest Visitation), or fervent hope for a bumper harvest.