CLARK FREEPORT – The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has finished and submitted to the Department of National Defense (DND) detailed plans on the transfer of seven of its major units occupying some 300 hectares in this freeport to other areas, particularly Subic Freeport in Zambales and Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga.
In an interview with Punto, Air Force spokesperson Lt. Col. Miguel Okol said “it’s now up to higher authorities to approve the plan and release the funds for the transfer to commence.”
“We are giving way to the progress and development of Clark, but without compromising national security,” he said. The approval of the transfer plan is in the hands of the DND and BCDA, he added. Okol said that the transfer would start immediately after the plan is approved and funds are released. He said the timetable for the transfer would depend on when the proposal would be approved and on the release of the needed funds.
Over 300 hectares of this freeport were allocated for the use of the PAF after the US Air Force left its base here in 1991. The allocation is based on an agreement between the DND and the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) which owns the lands within the former US military base which is now a freeport.
The state firm Clark Development Corp. (CDC), the implementing arm of the BCDA here, earlier admitted it is running out of lands to lease to interested investors here, an issue that some sectors have raised in batting for the removal of the PAF units here, the most prominent of which is the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement.
The PAF area, labeled as Air Force City, is under the supervision of the 600th Air Base Wing, but it also hosts the 1st Air Division, the 410th Maintenance Wing, the 420th Supply Wing, the 710th Special Operations Wing, the Air Force Logistics Command and the Air Force Reserve Command.
“These major units will move to other places, such as Subic with the consent of the BCDA and Basa which is already ours. But some other units will be moved to other areas such as Fernando Air Base in Lipa and even our headquarters in Villamor,” Okol said.
Okol could not immediately say how much the transfer would cost, but assured families of the Air Force personnel here that no movement would be done until “all the infrastructures in their destinations are ready for them.”
Hundreds of houses built by Americans within the PAF area here serve as homes for personnel dependents.
“One of our priorities is the morale and welfare of our men and their families,” Ocol said. Earlier BCDA President Arnel Casanova said here that the transfer of the PAF would give way to the availability of more lands for lease to investors. “We plan to implement this transfer during the term of Pres. Aquino,” he added.
Casanova also noted that the BCDA has already invested P33.8 billion in Central Luzon to create opportunities for investment and employment in the region. Of the P33.8 billion, P30.68 billion was used in the construction of the 94-kilometer Subic- Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), dubbed as the most modern tollway connecting the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and the Clark Freeport.
“BCDA, together with its subsidiaries, CDC and CIAC, is committed to actively pursue the development of Central Luzon. The development of Central Luzon is not merely a local or regional concern, it is a matter of national interest,” Casanova stressed.
