CLARK FREEPORT—Capping seven round-table discussions since last year, some 300 business leaders and officials in Central Luzon gathered in a summit here on Thursday, asking President Aquino to clarify the role that this free port and Clark International Airport (CRK) would play in national development.
“We want the national government to provide the road map,” said Pampanga
Representative Joseller Guiao who organized the summit dubbed “The Clark Challenge.”
Bulacan Governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado, incoming chair of the Regional Development Council, said representatives in Central Luzon had passed a resolution seeking the full development of Clark Freeport and CRK.
Central Luzon is Aquino’s home region but he has been quiet about policy issues on Clark and its airport.
Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda said the summit was long overdue. “Pampanga will directly benefit from the development but Clark and the airport are also for the region and the country. Developed to their full potential, these can create more jobs and reduce poverty,” Pineda told reporters.
The national government began undertaking the conversion of American military facilities, like Clark Air Base, for civilian use in 1992, after the passage of Republic Act No. 7227 (Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992).
In a position paper, the stakeholders said: “Clark’s development is still modest, and accretions in tourism, investments, business competitiveness and even grassroots development have also [slowed down], as stakeholders’ surveys show.”
Aquino, they said, could “still reverse this obstacle.” They recommended that he help them “break the … silence on the part of the government by proclaiming his support for the development of Clark and its airport.”
They asked him to ensure the allocation of budget for the infrastructure needs of the airport.
The stakeholders also asked Aquino to assure them of the inclusion of Clark as a destination in the first phase of the government’s mass railway system. Tonette
Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon