Tarlac presses bid to control vast tract of land ‘wrongfully annexed’ to Pampanga prov

By George Trillo

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga — Tarlac officials are pushing their petition to take political control of 3,325 hectares of land in Clark Freeport’s Sacobia sub-zone.

At present, Pampanga is enjoying the benefits of the natural resources as well as the investment opportunities in the vast tract of land.

Tarlac Gov. Vic Yap said his province has been waiting since 1993 to take political jurisdiction and authority over the areas in the Sacobia estate at Sitio Calumpang, Barangay San Vicente, Bamban, Tarlac where quarrying operations and other income- generating activities are being controlled by the provincial government of Pampanga and the municipal government of Mabalacat.

A position paper prepared by the provincial board of Tarlac stated the Tarlac areas were erroneously included as areas of Pampanga in general and Mabalacat in particular.

The Tarlac provincial board members stated in the position paper that upon the discovery of the “wrongful and unlawful annexation” of a portion of their province’s territory, they initiated a series of administrative remedies to recover the areas but to no avail.

Last week, both provincial boards of the two provinces set a dialogue on the problem in the Clark Freeport’s Convention Center, but the Pampanga provincial board members did not show up.

It was recalled that Mayor Leonardo C. Asuncion of Bamban, Tarlac initiated a series of meetings in July 2001 and talks with Pampanga officials who promised to turn over the erroneously annexed areas “subject to the condition of producing official documents that would prove the ownership claim of Tarlac officials."

However, despite the submission of official documents obtained by Tarlac officials from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Clark Development Corp., the government agency which controls Sacobia sub-zone, the Pampanga provincial government and the Mabalacat municipal government failed and refused to turn over the disputed area to Tarlac, Yap said.