CLARK MAKES one shining moment for the Duterte administration.
Nowhere in the Philippines is the regime’s Build, Build, Build mantra more manifest than in Clark, as we ourselves declared in our Man of the Year issue citing Bases Conversion and Development Authority president-CEO Vince Dizon, proffering as concrete proofs the construction of the new airport terminal, the stupendous developments at New Clark City, particularly the venues for the Southeast Asian Games slated this December among others.
Then there is the manifold increase in the number of flights and destinations to and from the Clark International Airport.
Now, here comes the report of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) declaring a whopping P2.016-billion remittances to the National Treasury in the three years of Duterte in office. That the amount — P500 million in 2016, P700 million in 2017, and P816 million in 2018 – constituted 50 percent of the total remittances in all of CDC’s 25-year existence is beyond impressive.
With the remittance of P816 million for the year past, the total CDC cash dividends remitted is P4.07 billion covering the period of 1996 to 2018. Whoa!
The string of ups for Clark continues, with CDC president-CEO Noel Manankil noting a 31-percent growth in the state-owned firm’s net income for 2018, earning P1.35 billion to 2017’s P1.03 billion. Three-year total net income is P3.17 billion, which accounts to 51-percent of CDC’s accumulated earnings since 1996.
Then, exports from the Clark Freeport soared too, with product values recorded at $6.14 billion last year.
Clark registered 89 new firms in 2018, bringing to 1,038 the total number of locators in the freeport.
Year-end records put in an all-time employment high of 122,973 workers.
We remember laughing at the pitch of the now dearly lamented Levy P. Laus at the time of his CDC presidency: “The future of Clark is so bright you have to wear sunglasses (to see it}.”
Seeing it all now, we are simply awed.
Mabuhay CDC! Luid BCDA!
