Malolos City—Mayor Ambrosio “Boy” Cruz of Guiguinto, Bulacan is not only griping about the high toll rates at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) from Balintawak to Tabang Exit in his town. He also wants justice for the name of his hometown that has been caused by erroneous labelling.
Cruz pointed out that almost all towns and city traversed by NLEx were given proper recognition of their town’s name except Guiguinto. He mentioned the Marilao, Meycauayan, Bocaue, Balagtas and Pulilan exits, all in Bulacan, and the exits at San Simon/Sto. Domingo, San Fernando, Angeles City, and Mexico, all in the province of Pampanga.
However, the two exits in Guiguinto, located between the Bocaue and Pulilan exits, were labelled as Tabang and Sta. Rita, the names of the barangays where the toll booths are located, Cruz pointed out.
“This injustice to the name of our town due to mislabeling must not be allowed to continue. The correction must be done immediately. Guiguinto is losing much in the name-recall game, especially in promoting our town’s tourism and cultural activities such as the yearly Halamanan Festival of Guiguinto,” the mayor said.
Both exits should have Guiguinto before their names to help promote the town, he said, as travelers already assume Tabang and Sta. Rita were separate towns, with the latter being mistaken for its namesake town in Pampanga.
Cruz said he will write to the Toll Regulatory Board and to the NLEX Corp. to immediately address the mislabeling of the Tabang and Sta. Rita exits. “It is long overdue,” he said.
He is also asking the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to revive and re-open the Guiguinto (Tabe) Exit, which was arbitrarily closed by NLEX Corp. in 2007 when it took over the operations and franchise of the former Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) and Manila North Tollways Corp,, owned by Benpres Holdings of the Lopez family.
The mayor also supported the clamor of two Bulacan lawmakers for an immediate audit of the financial statements of the NLEX Corp., the concessionaire and operator of the North Luzon Expressway and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.
“This part of NLEx has been paid for more four decades ago and just requires minor maintenance works, why should it be included in the systematic increase in toll fees for the amortization of loans used in other parts of NLEx?” he asked.
Cruz said the toll rates for motorists exiting inside the portions from Balintawak to Tabang, Guiguinto should in fact be reduced until it becomes a freeway, just like in the United States “where after the cost of construction has been recouped by its builder-contractor, the highway becomes a freeway.”