Ochoa to lead Barasoain freedom rites

MALOLOS CITY—Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., is set to lead the 115th Independence Day celebrations at the historic Barasoain Church here on Wednesday.

This came as Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario declined the invitation of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).

The theme for this year’s Independence Day celebration will focus on “Ambagan Tungo sa Malawakang Kaunlaran.”

Neth Jimenez, curator of the Barasoain Museum here, said that everything is ready for Wednesday’s celebrations.

He said that hundreds of Bulakenyos led by local elected officials along with teachers from different schools are expected to participate in the annual celebrations.

Last year, President Benigno Aquino III led the 114th Independence Day celebration here. He will lead the same at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila on Wednesday.

Jimenez said that as guest speaker Ochoa is expected to highlight the importance of the One Bulacan Program Rapid Industrialization and Development (PRIDE) which he help engineered.

One Bulacan PRIDE is a mechanism that will push development projects in the province.

In includes seven strategies namely: construction of facilities for education and technology, establishment of showroom for jewelry industry in the province, construction of a food terminal, construction of mineral processing zone, conversion of the towns of Plaridel,Pulilan, and Baliwag into highly urbanized district, establishment of tourism economic zones, and satellite government center in the mountain town of Donya Remedios Trinidad in eastern Bulacan.

Earlier, Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado said that plans for One Bulacan PRIDE will replicate the industrialization program implemented in Shenzhen in Southern China.

Shenzhen is one of the most successful economic zones in the world that developed at an unprecedented rate.

Alvarado said that Shenzhen is a small fishing village in 1983, but today it is a sprawling and high technology manufacturing service city.

Its population grew from 351,000 in 1982 to 14,500,000 in 2012.

Alvarado added that as special economic zone established in 1979, Shenzhen is a brain child of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.

It is now home to more than 6,000 design companies with over 60,000 employees.