CLARK FREEPORT – The Board of Directors of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) is set to pass a resolution recognizing former president Fidel V. Ramos (FVR) for his role in the conceptualization of the state-run firm on his 93rd birthday on March 18.
CDC chairman Edgardo Pamintuan said on Thursday the resolution will be a fitting recognition for the role of Ramos on what Clark is today.
He said “Fidel V. Ramos is the father of CDC and the development of this area. He signed EO 80 and also declared the Clark airport as the next premiere international airport of the country in 1993. Gagawa kami ng resolution tomorrow (We will make a resolution tomorrow).”
“This will be our birthday gift to him. We are also planning on putting up a bust,” he added.
Executive Order 80 signed by FVR in 1993 authorizes the establishment of the Clark Development Corporation as the implementing arm of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority for the Clark Special Economic Zone, and directing all heads of departments, bureaus, offices, agencies and instrumentalities of government to support the program.
CDC president and CEO Manuel R. Gaerlan, a townmate of Ramos who was raised in Asingan, Pangasinan where the former hails and was his former aide when he became the president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998, fully supports the resolution expressing recognition on FVR as the father of Clark.
In another development, Pamintuan said the Philippine Air Force (PAF) will be relocated to the New Clark City (NCC).
“We have to relocate PAF personnel, housing and the operations center to the New Clark City,” Pamintuan said during the Balitaan media forum organized by the Capampangan in Media, Inc. (CAMI) in coordination with the CDC recently.
“Almost 800 families, some of them generals, that are in Pulang Lupa will be relocated to Marcos Village,” he said.
Pamintuan said his objective is “to enhance the land here and that it will eventually be sold or at least some portions of Clark lands. But that is only for me,” he hastened to add.
Meanwhile, Pamintuan said he is “harmonizing the procedure of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) one stop shop here and in Subic.”
He also said he will see to it that the place is a friendly investment area.
