Pampanga traders back Cayetano over senator’s backing of Clark

SEN. ALAN PETER Cayetano and wife, Lani, visit Lani’s grandmother, Estelita “Lola Telet” Clarino, 85, in Tiwi, Albay, during a break in the senator’s campaign for reelection. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Leaders of the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PamCham) have endorsed the reelection bid of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to its 417 member-companies.

These companies employ more than 25,000 workers, Renato Romero, vice chair of PamCham, told the Inquirer after he and other directors of the chamber met with the senator.

In a resolution, the officers said Cayetano clinched the group’s support because he “espouses the same aspirations for the country’s economic development as PamCham.”

The senator, they said, supports and promotes the full development of the Clark International Airport (CRK) as one of the premier international gateways in the country, “complementary and supplementary to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).”

PamCham leaders said Cayetano’s platform, summed up in “Presyo, Trabaho, Kita” (prices, jobs, income), is seen to “cascade the benefits of an improved economy.”

So far, Cayetano is known to be the only candidate that PamCham has endorsed.

Cayetano called the support a “great opportunity.” He said the two-airport system being pursued by the Department of Transportation and Communications was the “right strategy.”

“The United States was thorough in connecting Clark and Subic. [The Philippine government] made heavy investments in connecting Clark and Subic. It is going to be the catalyst for the economic development of central and northern Luzon. We need to make a master plan,” he said, referring to how the seaports and airports in Hong Kong and Singapore are run.

CRK, which spans 2,350 hectares, used to be a facility of the US Air Force until 1991. At least 1.3 million passengers used it in 2012 through budget and other airlines. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon