Clark workers see hope in Duterte vs airport plan

Clark workers rally to demand transparency and security of tenure in plans to privatize airport operations at the Clark freeport. —TONETTE OREJAS

CLARK FREEPORT — President Duterte’s statement last week that the privatization of Clark International Airport (CRK) would need Congress approval has emboldened government employees to continue opposing the scheme.

Manuel Bañez, president of Samahan ng mga Manggagawa ng Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, said the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) should stop bidding out operations at the airport because President Duterte had “clearly prescribed a process that should be complied with.” Diosdado Macapagal International Airport is the former name of CRK.

Bañez said the union had opposed the privatization plan because of its impact on the job security of 315 regular employees of the state-owned Clark International Airport Corp. (Ciac).

Also in the employ of Ciac are 152 agency-hired security guards, 103 support staffers, 75 janitors and 30 project-based workers.

July 10 statement

The airport privatization project was raised to President Duterte during a news briefing on July 10 when he attended the national conference of micro, small and medium enterprises at the Asean Convention Center here.

“Well, that has to be discussed. Nothing is final yet. It has to be the decision of Congress and the Cabinet. It’s always a joint effort,” President Duterte said.

“No one in this government can say what will happen or what. You have to contend with the government itself because Congress is likewise there to protect the interest of the people and the money. Remember it costs us money to build it,” he said.

BCDA is spending P15 billion to build a new terminal for CRK. The consortium Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure began work in January.

Neda OK

Instead of a congressional nod for the privatization of the operations and maintenance of CRK, BCDA got on April 25 the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority board, chaired by the President, for a plan to privatize the airport operations.

Vivencio Dizon, BCDA president and chief executive officer, said he would not comment on how President Duterte’s remarks would affect the bidding of CRK’s operations and management that began on April 30.

Bid submission and opening of qualification documents had been scheduled on July 20, the technical bid opening and evaluation on July 26, the financial bid opening and the postqualification process on Aug. 7.

BCDA said it expected the contract to be awarded on Aug. 30.