CLARK ROUNDABOUT. Cutting the ceremonial ribbon officially opening the Clark rotunda on Monday are (L-R) Clark Development Corp. Chair Eliseo Santiago, Mabalacat City Mayor Marino Morales, Bases Conversion and Development Authority President-CEO Arnel Casanova, Angeles City Mayor Ed Pamintian, CDC President-CEO Arthur Tugade and CDC Director Rommel Bondoc. Photos by Bong Lacson
CLARK ROUNDABOUT. Cutting the ceremonial ribbon officially openingthe Clark rotunda on Monday are (L-R) Clark Development Corp. Chair Eliseo Santiago, Mabalacat City Mayor Marino Morales, Bases Conversion and Development Authority President-CEO Arnel Casanova, Angeles City Mayor Ed Pamintian, CDC President-CEO Arthur Tugade and CDC Director Rommel Bondoc. Photos by Bong Lacson
CLARK FREEPORT – As the series of conferences for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit started full blast Monday here, host Clark Development Corp. (CDC) announced projects worth some P137.69 million either finished in time for the summit or up for completion this year.
Monday morning, CDC President- CEO Arthur Tugade and BasesConversion Development Authority (BCDA) President-CEO Arnel Paciano Casanova led the inauguration of the P12.85-million roundabout at the Bayanihan Park along the MacArthur Highway towards Clark’s main gate.
Alvin Tabag, CDC project manager for APEC, said in an interview that not all the projects covered by theP137.69-million fund were meant to be completed in time for APEC now being hosted at Clark up to Feb. 7.
But apart from the roundabout, the CDC also inaugurated a P1.7-million command center linked to high-resolution CCTV cameras at Clark’s gates and other strategic areas within this freeport.
The CDC also inaugurated the other day the P5.7-million, 48-seater theatre building at the Clark Museum with a a P35-million 4-D theater equipment that could produce wind, smoke, bubble, water shots, leg and back seat tickler, and “three axes motion.
”The P13.85-million film “Risen from the Ashes,” however, met with strong criticisms from media viewers who objected to its claim that after the Americans left Clark and amid devastation from Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption, the former military base was “systematically” looted by victims of the volcanic eruption.
Its use of hot air balloon to depict Clark’s rise from devastation was also hit as inappropriate. The other CDC projects include P18.77-million LED streetlights all over this freeport, P9.26-million traffic lights in four locations, P462 million jogging path, benches and toilet at the CDC parade grounds, P6.21-million parade ground lighting, P11.32-million renovation of the Clark museum, P18.41 million “curatorial works” at the mu-seum.
Several routes to this freeport were redirected for smoother traffic flow in Angeles City, amid sightings of scores of uniformed and armed police and military men around and within this freeport to secure some 1,700 APEC participants.
