Delivering on Clark

“THE ICING of the cake in Clark is the airport. Yung airport ho tapos na yung pre-bid conference. Ibi-bidding na po yan by the end of this year. Hopefully, construction will start at the latest at the last quarter of next year and by 2020 to 2021, you in Clark and Pampanga can have our new airport with the new terminal, modern and world-class.”

So, declared Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade last week at the launch of the Clark-NAIA point-to-point service of Genesis Transport Inc.  

A complement to the Clark airport development, as well as a mega infra project on its own, Tugade furthered, is the construction of the railway from Tutuban in Manila to Malolos, Bulacan eventually connecting to Clark.

Enthused he: “Ibig lang sabihin, kapag naumpisahan natin ang Tutuban-Malolos, tuloy-tuloy na po yan hanggang San Fernando, Angeles at Clark. Gusto ho natin tapusin yan sa tatlong taon.”   

So uncharacteristic of his brusko past as president-CEO of the Clark Development Corp., Tugade appealed to the people for prayers: “Dapat ho ay ipagdasal n’yo kami upang ‘yung issues na masalimuot kagaya ng legal at right of way ay aming matugunan upang yung pangarap hindi lang po ng Pampanga kundi ng buong kapuluan ay mabigyan ng kasagutan.”

And, for nothing less than their total support: “We need your help. We need your support. We need your understanding. Huwag niyo po kaming tapunan ng batikos at alinlangan. Ibigay niyo ang kamay ninyo na makikiisa at gagabay sa amin upang ang mga proyekto dito sa Central Luzon at higit sa lahat sa Clark ay mabigyan realidad.”

If only for the certainty of Tugade’s conviction, if only for his recognition of the need for all stakeholders at Clark, particularly the ordinary folk, to be one with this enterprise, we must turn en masse to rally alongside him, behind the Duterte administration’s bid to make Clark development happen, at last.

And thereby right the wrongs impacted upon Clark by – of all people – the two most recent presidents of the Republic who happened to be Capampangans.

Precisely then, if only for our Clark (non)experience with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and BS Aquino III, the most I – and not a few others – can extend Tugade’s proclamation at this point is guarded, if prayerful, optimism.

It does not take overnight to unburden us long time Clark advocates of the unguarded pessimism calcified through the years of high promises by the national government for Clark development invariably coming undelivered.        

Terminal delirium, I have come to write time and again here of these epic fails by both GMA and the BS to make good on their express policies to exploit the full potentials of Clark as a premier international gateway for the Philippines.

In September 2006, GMA presided over the laying of the time capsule for the construction of Clark’s Terminal 2. It was announced then that the sum of P3 billion, to come from the Manila International Airport Authority, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., and the Bureau of Immigration, among other agencies will be allotted for the project.
It was all press release.

Next came the $1.2 billion proposal from an ALMAL Investments Co., a subsidiary of the Kuwaiti mega developer M.A. Kharafi Projects, “to cover all civil components of the DMIA Terminals 1, 2 and 3 plus the adjacent 1,500 hectares in the aviation complex strictly following the CIAC original master plan.”
It was even bruited about that GMA herself and top honchos of the Clark International Airport Corp,, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority and Cabinet members hid off to the Middle Eastern kingdom to seal the deal.

It was no deal.

Then came a group of major government-linked and private firms in Malaysia called Bristeel Overseas Ventures, Inc. (BOVI) reportedly offering to infuse at least $150 million in foreign direct investment to immediately undertake the much-needed expansion of the passenger terminal of the Clark International Airport.

The BOVI that appeared in Google searches was a manufacturer of galvanized iron sheets.

So, it was publicised that in a regular meeting on May 17, 2010, the CIAC Board “resolved to accept for detailed negotiations” the proposal of the Philco Aero Inc. on the Passenger Terminal 2 Development Project of the DMIA, as it was deemed “superior” to the BOVI proposal.

That was the first and last thing heard of the Philco Aero.

Then in January 2012 CIAC announced that “they” were pushing for the construction of a budget terminal that will handle about 10 million passengers a year at the Clark airport.
“The new facility, amounting to P12 billion, will take three years to complete and make (the CIA) the second largest airport in the country, next to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport…This budget terminal is the kind of terminal that meets the requirements of our airport in Clark. Our terminal right now can only accommodate 2.5 million. So, we need a budget terminal to effectively say that DMIA is the next budget airline airport of the country.” So, declared CIAC president-CEO Victor Jose Luciano.

Then in In February 2012, CIAC signed a P1-billion loan facility with Land Bank of the Philippines precisely to jumpstart the terminal construction.

As we all have come to witness, nothing verbalized about the Clark airport has ever been realized. 

Comes now Tugade’s push, push, push for a world-class Clark airport by 2021.

The prospect of the Davao Mayor delivering where the two Capampangan presidents miserably failed – it is well worth our prayers, and total support.

And make us all believers as much in Duterte as in Tugade. Here’s keeping our fingers crossed.