What went before: Clark occupation

The United States States first occupied 7,600 acres in the precursor of Clark in 1902, expanding this to 158,277 acres, which is about the size of Singapore, University of the Philippines professor Roland Simbulan said in his book “The Bases of Our Insecurity.”

Proclamation No. 163 issued by former President Fidel Ramos and Proclamation No. 1035 issued by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo excluded 36,778 hectares of the ‘reverted base lands’ from  Clark Freeport (4,440 ha) and Clark Special Economic Zone (23,601 ha).

The excluded reverted base lands consist of 470 ha for the Pinatubo Commission resettlement sites, 5,612 ha for the Sacobia Development Authority resettlement project, 19,972 ha for the Department of Defense and 10,724 ha for the Department of Agrarian Reform.

Capas Mayor Antonio Rodriguez Jr. said the conflict over lands would have been prevented if the villages and ancestral domains of the  Aeta and Aberling tribes were excluded from the coverage of the base lands.