Angeles City's Nepo area now

It is said that the Nepo center in Angeles City during the era of the US Air Force base at Clark Field was largely empty land, except for a quad that was famous for stalls selling American goods from Clark. The Americans left Clark in 1991 because Pinatubo volcano was about to erupt. It was  a departure that was to be made permanent by the non approval of the PHL-US Military Bases Agreement by the Philippine Senate the following year, The Nepo Center was left like an orphan. over the years, as Clark was converted into an economic zone luring investors with tax privileges, Angeles survived, prospered and attracted big malls. Nepo owners had to contend and invested in good buildings in their center. Now the Nepo center is unrecognizable from its American era years. Just see the photos below.

morning woth elderly parents

It has been quite sometime since my last post. The Philippines has been through almost a year of Pres. Duterte, through the thousands killed in his anti-illegal drugs war. On the positive side, my elderly parents have been with me since they abandoned American life in the US some three years ago.

It's a great blessing that I now serve my father at 90 and my mother at 94, both still relatively well despite dad's poor heart condition and surfacing Alzheiner's and my mom's episodes of dementia.

Thus this morning, I again got pleasure serving them neat Filipino breakfast. Not opulent as the photo shows, but somewhat unordinary for the rhythm and variety: puto at dinugan, suman, and lugaw. That's Filipino breakfast any Filipino elderly would like after waking up to a part of the day they often find hard to ascertain without asking me or the kids in the house.

Is the bus-train coming?

 

The Department of Scence and Technology says the Filipino-made bus-train has finished its two year safety and efficiency trial in Clark freeport and Cebu, and was found to be okay. Now the agency is convincing bus line owners to invest in them. Each could cost P32 to P42 million. Will it be worth?

CRK airport what?

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The historic Clark parade grounds, site of the former Fort Stotsenburg, turns into a virtual raging sea during thunderstorms. Too many trees cut in Clark?

Murder of Clark chief engineer

 CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga- - At least four top executives of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), mostly members of the bids and awards committee (BAC) have received threatening text messages apparently related to the recent murder of the airport's chief engineer in Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac. This, even as Sta. Ignacia police head Chief Inspector Crisanto Paac told the Star in a telephone interview that the police task force group formed to probe the killing of Clark airport chief engineer Ruel Angeles is now focusing its probe on the victim's activities at the Clark airport. "Sta. Ignacia is a peaceful town and we know of no involvement of the victim in the town that could give a hint on his murder. He had been known as a peaceful and even religious man in his community, so the task force is now focusing on the possibility that his case could be job-related," said Paac who is a member of the task force. A ranking official of CIAC, who asked not to be named amid alleged "gag order" on the killing of Angeles, said that one member of the BAC received the text "One down, more to go." "At least four others, including two women, also received similar text messages," the source said. Almost all of the recipients on the text messages are members of the BAC which has been involved in the controversial bidding for the Clark airpor's Instrument Landing System (ILS). Angeles was a member of the BAC. Angeles was shot dead by one of two motorcycle-riding men while driving his wife Crusenia and their grandchild to school in Barangay Pada-Pada in his sometown in Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac Monday last week. Crusenia has fully recovered from a bullet wound while the child was unhurt. Paac said that the remains of Angeles are expected to be buried today, Nov. 19, in Sta. Ignacia. He also said that Crusenia has fully recovered and that he has provided the Angeles family at least six policemen to secure them pending investigation of the murder case. Paac said that investigation conducted by his men revealed that while Angeles was member of the Tarlac Fowl Gaming Association and participated in local cockfights, he was known as a "minor" bettor. "Our information is that he was into cockfighting as mere pastime and never had enemies in cockfighting," he added. Another very reliable source from CIAC who also asked not to be identified noted that Angeles's engineering department had been credited for maintaining the 18-year-old ILS at the Clark airport. An ILS reportedly costs P250 million. Because the lifespan of an ILS is supposed to be 15 years at most, the Clark airport's BAC held a bidding for a new one last year, with the firm Evercon winning with a bid of P205 million on Oct. 22, he noted. "Evercon turned out to be the only qualified bidder because the terms of reference categorized the project as infrastructure that required a permit from the Philippine Contractors Association of the Philippines (PCAP) and Evercon was the only one who had such permit," the source said. Those who were disqualified, however, protested the classification of the project as infrastructure and urged that it be classified as mere "delivery of supply" that would qualify more bidders. Thus, upon instruction of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) which is the mother agency of CIAC, the BAC here was compelled to declare a failure of bidding only recently, the source related. 　 Newly installed CIAC president and chief excutive officer Emigdio Tanjuatco said in a telephone interview that the re-bidding for the ILS was deferred last Nov. 14 amid a protest filed by Evercon which had paid P1.2 million protest fee. "I believe there are two or three interested bidders, but the (CIAC) board is first resolving the protest," Tanjautco added. -30-

At Clark's main gate is this confusing sinage followed by one that imposes a sudden swerve for motorists without stickers. Logic is not a specialty of Clark traffic officers.