Mayor withholds support for Clark project

CLARK FREEPORT— The Capas town government in Tarlac province has withheld its support for the Clark Green City (CGC) project until the issue of the displacement of 30,000 Aetas and upland farmers in the town is resolved.

In a statement on Friday, Capas Mayor Antonio Rodriguez Jr. said he informed the House committee on bases conversion that the CGC and the supposed expansion of the Crow Valley gunnery range by the Philippine Air Force threatened to displace residents of the villages of Sta. Juliana, Maruglu, Bueno, Sta. Lucia, Aranguren, Lawy and O’Donnel. These villages are within the 10-kilometer danger zone of Mount Pinatubo, which last erupted in 1991.

Rodriguez said 23,024 hectares of the Capas’ 43,148 ha are within military reservations that were part of the Clark Air Base. The base has been converted into the Clark Freeport and the Clark Special Economic Zone.

Rodriguez said displacement could be prevented if the Department of National Defense supports the request of Capas to segregate 1,024 ha covering the seven villages from the military reservation.

Earlier, the House committee on bases conversion passed a resolution supporting the CGC, a project of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

Committee members approved the CGC master plan through House Resolution 944. Rep. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales of the party-list group Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption, who chairs the committee, introduced the resolution.

The endorsement happened in a hearing initiated recently by Tarlac Rep. Noel Villanueva, who is also opposing the CGC due to the same reasons cited by Capas town.

In a statement announcing the endorsement of the committee, BCDA president Arnel Paciano Casanova described the CGC as the “country’s first green, disaster-resilient and smart metropolis that will change the way we live for the better.” BCDA also developed the Bonifacio Global City in Metro Manila.

The committee directed the BCDA to coordinate with other government agencies and local governments in making strategies, plans and timetable to achieve the targets of the CGC master development plan.

Casanova said the coordination would help pave the way for “greater transparency and cooperation among stakeholders as we build the country’s most modern city.” He said the BCDA began consultations in 2012.

“The development of the CGC can only happen if we work closely together,” Casanova said.

Casanova said the 9,450-ha CGC is within the 36,000-ha area north of Clark. The first phase of CGC covers 1,321 ha, he said.

“The CGC aims to promote inclusive growth and is envisioned to benefit the people of Tarlac, including farmers’ groups and the indigenous people,” he said. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon