Clark’s US past to be erased soon

CLARK FREEPORT—One of the last remnants of Clark’s American military past would soon be erased as the government planned to demolish abandoned munitions storage areas (MSA) here to give way to a second bigger terminal of the Clark International Airport, an official said on Thursday.

Alexander Cauguiran, president and chief executive officer of Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), said under the airport development master plan, a portion of the former ammo dump would be used for a second runway, taxiways and a building for weather observation.

The rest of the area, he said, would be used for the Airport City for aviation-related industries and facilities.

Clark’s past

There are 18 remaining MSA structures based on the latest count by Edgardo Rivera, chief of private guards securing the Mabalacat City side of the CIAC.

There used to be 34 MSAs, each with 185.806 square meters (200,000 square feet) of storage space, according to the book, “The Bases of our Insecurity.”

Clark had been used for support operations in the US wars in Korea (1950-1953) and Vietnam (1955-1975).

Scant information about the ammo areas could be intentional to hide the amount of guns, bombs and missiles that the Americans kept there, said Marcelino Ibanez, head of the CIAC special concerns unit.

The MSA currently is unrecognizable from its old self. Trees and weeds had grown in the area, replacing grass that used to camouflage the storage units.

Metal doors may have been taken by looters after the Mt. Pinatubo eruptions in 1991, with their hinges still intact.

The eruptions prompted the evacuation from Clark of “36 cruise missile warheads,” according to the book “Introduction to Global Environmental Issues.”