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.