Clark declaration

“WHAT WE hope to achieve is to encourage the President to declare a national policy on the concrete role the Clark Freeport should play in the country’s economic development.”

Declared 1^st District Rep. Joseller “Yeng” Guiao of the end-in-view of his brainchild, the "Clark Challenge: Stakeholders' Summit” set this Thursday.

Specifically targeted by Guiao is the release of the P7.2 billion fund now lodged as un-programmed item embedded in the Department of Budget and Management much-bruited about by both Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and Clark International Airport Corp. President-CEO Victor Jose Luciano as intended for the development of the Clark airport.

“We also hope to encourage the DOTC to hasten the completion of the North Railway project, as well as extend its reach from Calamba, Laguna to this freeport instead of the original target destination of only up to Malolos, Bulacan by 2020,” Guiao said.

Reading Guiao above is re-reading business mogul Manny V. Pangilinan who on at least three occasions said a definitive policy declaration on Clark by the Aquino government is all it takes for his group to invest here, particularly in the development of the Clark International Airport, complete with its own railway system.

At the sidelines of last year’s PLDT stockholders meeting where he sits as chairman, MVP disclosed that he had commissioned a study on the railway system fitted to Clark: “So our thinking has always been to have a high speed train that will connect Clark with NAIA… of course it will have four stops… the first stop could be in the northern part of Manila, another in the middle part and Makati and the final stop is NAIA.”

Most certainly unlost to Guiao is MVP’s mind on the matter of Clark in facing the challenge to consolidate the stakeholders’ aspirations and actions to – as Punto bannered last week – “prod  the national leadership to adopt a policy direction and concrete actions” on Clark – the freeport and the airport.

For added measure, Guiao vowed to take the summit output to the House via a privilege speech. 
Here’s something I picked from inquirer.net written by Paolo G. Montecillo that may serve as inspiring input to Guiao’s summit:

Aquino to decide on fate of Clark airport

The fate of Clark International Airport will be left in the hands of President Aquino, who will have to decide if the government should develop two major airports in Luzon or focus its efforts on just one.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said different plans for Clark and its Manila counterpart, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), would be brought up to the Cabinet economic cluster and later to the President for approval within the month.

The choice would be between maintaining two major airports—Clark and Naia—supporting each other, or vacating Manila in favor of the former US military base.

Malacañang also has the option of establishing a brand-new airport inside Metro Manila or in a nearby province that will replace the existing Naia complex in Pasay City.

“We are finalizing plans and bring this to the President [for a final] decision,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said Thursday.

Abaya admitted that while there were several options on the table, no clear favorite has emerged and it would be up to the President to take his pick.

“Will we have one or two gateways? Do we close down Naia in the future for some other airport? A lot of stakeholders are waiting for these decisions,” Abaya said in a radio interview.

“What’s important is that a decision is made soon so projects can move forward,” he added.

Clark International Airport is seen as the inevitable replacement to Naia, which has suffered from congestion and various legal issues over the past decade. The Clark airport sits on 2,400 hectares of land, more than three times bigger than the 700 hectares occupied by the current Naia complex.

Plans to develop Clark, however, have been put in the backburner as the government weighs its options on sticking with Naia.

The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, which represents foreign business groups operating in the country, earlier this week lamented the government’s indecision over Clark’s development.

The group said the frequent changes in the DOTC’s leadership—the department has had three secretaries in the last three years—has left Clark airport in the “twilight zone.”

Sadly, the above news item is dated February 28, 2013.

What was to be decided by BS Aquino within the month has been left undecided for the past 11 months.  

Prod the President to declare a national policy on Clark?

I can only wish Guiao and his summit good luck. Mine is some unguarded pessimism borne by Clark promises proffered by one administration after another which always turned out broken and undelivered.  

The only difference I see in this BS Aquino administration is there’s no promise at all.