CLARK FREEPORT – Clark Development Corporation (CDC) President and CEO Felipe Antonio Remollo said on Friday that the 215-hectare Mimosa Leisure Estate (MLE) will be handed over to a private firm through a public bidding by August, receiving affirmations from long-time members of golfer’s associations.
In his first press conference with Pampanga journalists after assuming his post early May, Remollo stressed that he doesn’t want the public bidding to fail “again.”
“We want it to be fair and we will be careful (in bidding it out). We want to succeed,” said Remollo, whose appointment at the CDC was reportedly pushed by losing vice presidential candidate and now Transportation and Communications Sec. Mar Roxas.
A three-term Dumaguete City mayor and member of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), Remollo disclosed that the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the bidding will be finalized and made public this July.
The CDC, which took control and management of the MLE in December 1999 by virtue of a court order, failed to privatize the premiere leisure estate four times, the last of which happened during the term of former CDC President and CEO Benigno Ricafort, who was replaced by Remollo.
Mimosa has a recreational and residential complex, a 36-hole all-weather golf course designed by the Honolulu-based team Nelson Wright and Haworth, casino and hotel operated by Holiday Inn.
Rodelio Mamac, founding president of the Mimosa Golf and Country Club Association Inc. (MGCCAI), said the privatization of MLE “is most welcome as the CDC is only an interim operator.”
Mamac, barangay captain of Balibago, Angeles City, said he and MGCCAI President Atty. Babes Infante had supported the turnover of MLE to a private entity. He stressed that the MGCCAI members “whether they are Filipinos or not should be prioritized and ensured of their rights as members.”
Businessman Ruperto Cruz, who founded the MGCCAI as its chairman, said past presidents of CDC had bungled the privatization of MLE, frustrating local and international groups to acquire the estate developed by Mondragon Leisure and Resorts Corporation (MLRC) beginning 1994.
Cruz said he had spoken with Korean investors, who are members of firms which failed to acquire Mimosa due to failure of bidding or disqualification caused by various technicalities.
Thus, he said, “learning from them they lost confidence and trust in the past CDC administrations after the alleged questionable biddings.”
“We hope that Remollo will be different and far better for the benefit of the members. He should remove the perception that past failed biddings had been used as milking cows, benefiting some officials, ” said Cruz, who operates the 18-hole Royal Golf and Country Club (RGCC) in Angeles City, which is about four kilometers away from the Friendship Gate of this Freeport.
Cruz also said Mimosa’s bidding should succeed for the benefit of the communities adjacent to Clark as groups and the national government are poised to aggressively push for the transformation of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) into a premiere airport of the country.
“Mimosa and Royal Golf will complement each other given that scenario. The two will attract more local and foreign tourists, especially those landing from the Clark airport,” he added.
Punto visited the Mimosa golf course on Friday afternoon and spoke with other golfers, including members of the Pampanga Golfers Association (PGA). They said their fellow PGA members are “fully supportive of the privatization of Mimosa.”
At the press conference, Remollo’s top assistants had been asked for the financial report of the Mimosa since the CDC took over the estate named after a genus of herbs and scrubs. They said “it had to be cleared with Remollo first before releasing anything.”
The Mimosa golf course was once visited by US golfer Tiger Woods.
