CLARK FREEPORT -Clark Development Corp. (CDC) President-CEO Arthur Tugade said he would not allow ancestral domain conflict with Aeta tribes delay progress on the P2.5-billion tourism project initiated by the BB International Leisure and Resort Development Corporation (BBI) in this freeport.
In a meeting called by Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales, Tugade vowed to “sit down” with tribal folk leaders to thresh out their six-year-old problem with his state firm.
“I will not allow anything to disrupt progress on the project,” Tugade said with obvious irritation after Aeta leader Robert Serrano proposed that parts of the project within the reported two hectares of Aeta ancestral domain be frozen. He expressed full support for the tourism project, saying he had seen at least P1 billion of deposited funds already shelved by the investors.
For his part, Morales dared the Aetas to go to court on the issue. “You signed an agreement with CDC. That agreement has remained in effect,” he said.
Serrano noted that six years ago, he and other Aetas were asked by the CDC to abandon the project area at Clark’s “Gate 14” and move to Sitio Bilad near the controversial Sacobia centennial bridge. He said they were later told that of the project’s 120 hectares, about two are within the Aeta ancestral domain.
He said the Aetas signed an agreement on their transfer but that they were not completely compensated by the CDC as promised. He also claimed that projects identified in the contract, including the building of a bridge, were never realized.
Tugade vowed to act on the grievances identified by Serrano, even as he turned down the proposal to freeze any project that BBI would build in the two hectares of ancestral lands.
“I am ready to sit down with you within the bounds of what is reasonable and financially sound for the welfare of all,” he said.
Tugade stressed that the BBI already a submitted a timeline for deadlines on the four-phase project. “I will terminate the contract if any of these timelines are not met,” he warned. He also noted that groundbreaking for the project is slated on Sept. 29.
Meanwhile, BBI President Irineo Alvaro washed his hands off the ancestral domain controversy.
“We, too, are victims. We already paid $5.5 million (to the CDC) for the lease of the lands. We did not expect this controversy,” Alvaro told the Aetas after the meeting.
Alvaro said he project includes the construction of the first five star hotel in Central Luzon.
