CLARK FREEPORT – The Clark Development Corp. (CDC) is hailing 2017 as a banner year after posting “unprecedented gains” in investments, revenues, employment and other significant achievements to be one of Asia’s leading economic centers.
CDC president-CEO Noel F. Manankil said the accomplishments in this freeport for the past year are aimed at helping bring about a robust economic impact to the local communities, Central Luzon and to the rest of the country.
Manankil attributed Clark’s gains to the sound business climate of the Duterte administration as he thanked Clark locators, workers and other stakeholders, including the support given by contiguous communities, and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the parent company of CDC.
In his report to the state-run firm’s board of directors, Manankil also cited the number of locator- firms now totaling 949, which is a six percent increase from 895 the previous year. Most of the locator- firms are in the ICT, service, and developers industries at 362, representing 38 percent of the total number.
The report showed that for the same period, the number of employees inside the freeport reached 107,997 or an increase of 14,227 from the previous year.
The industrial and manufacturing industry had the most number of employees at 48,476 or 45 percent in the distribution.
Accordingly, Manankil said, the state-owned firm attained a gross revenue of P1.96 billion for the year 2017, a 20 percent growth compared to 2016 with P1.64 billion.
This resulted to an unprecedented net income of P1.03 billion or a 32 percent jump from the corporation’s 2016 performance of P738 million.
This marked the first time that CDC hit the billion-peso net income level through the efforts of its BOD, management and employees and locator-investors.
The value of exports inside this freeport also posted high growth rate of 35 percent or a total of $6.874 billion as compared to $5.089 in 2016.
As a commitment to the community, CDC conducted several projects and programs to improve the lives of local residents in and around the freeport.
Livelihood, health and education programs benefited 40,500 individuals, Manankil said. In the same way, 465 job seekers were also hired on the spot during CDC jobs fairs.
Aside from being an investment hub, Clark has also poised itself to boost the tourism aspect. Last year, 93 events were organized while 1.142 million foreign and local tourist arrivals were recorded.
The BOD, chaired by former Transportation Secretary Jose “Ping” De Jesus, commended Manankil, CDC executives and employees for another banner year for the state-owned firm.
