CLARK FREEPORT – “Let us first resolve this locally.”
a congressional inquiry on the granting of a lease agreement (LA) on the Capilion Corp. Pte. Ltd. project at the main gate of this freeport.
“If we can avoid bringing it to Congress and making a circus out of it, let us first resolve this here,” said Guiao during the weekly media forum “Balitaan” organized by the Capampangan in Media, Inc. (CAMI) in cooperation with the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) at the Bale Balita (House of News) here last Friday.
Guaio also acknowledged a letter from the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement seeking the same congressional probe on Capilion and the possible review of the Bases Conversion Development Law (RA 7227).
The solon said he is giving the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) two weeks to get ready and prepare for a meeting with all stakeholders as he also called on the state-run firm to come clean and make a full disclosure of its LA with Capilion.
Guiao said the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) should also be able to present its position on the Capilion project in the light of the newly-approved P15 billion fund for a new passenger terminal. “Did it (Capilion) consider the expansion of the airport?” he asked.
Guiao said his biggest concern is if Capilion will “interfere with the railway station” or will “obstruct traffic” at the main gate.
Tugade
Guiao said CDC President-CEO Arthur P. Tugade had invited him and 3rd District Rep. Oscar S. Rodriguez to a meeting recently where they were shown a map pointing to the location of the railway which is far from the Capilion area.
Guiao said Tugade also told them that “the area (Capilion) was never in any master plan” nor was it intended as a proposed intermodal train station as specified by the SP in its resolution.
On the SP’s claim the Capilion area is a “buffer zone,” Guiao said this is true if Clark is still a military base but since it is now an economic zone, “the buffer zone area is now an asset which you can turn into an opportunity.”
He explained that “once it becomes an economic zone, the buffer area becomes an asset and the purpose of the buffer is no longer valid as a military camp.”
Guiao said Capilion might be paying the most expensive lease in Clark as pointed by CDC, but does this include all the floors in the buildings or just the footprint?
“This is not clear to me,” he added.
The CDC earlier said Capilion will be paying $2.05 per square-meter lease for the BPO offices of its Clark Green Frontier project and $3.10 per square-meter for areas to be developed as commercial, retail and hotel use.
Capilion is now excavating the three-hectare area diametrically opposite the SM City Clark at the main gate of this freeport for the foundation of its two, nine-storey mixed-use buildings.
Guiao said CDC as well as representatives from Capilion should sit down with everybody including the media.
“Explain this, present the lease agreement and then open yourself up to questions,” Guiao said.
But the solon was surprised when CDC communications department manager Noel Tulabut, who was present in the media forum, protested and said the LA has “some confidentiality clause” and cannot be scrutinized.
“That lease agreement is supposed to be a public document,” Guiao pointed out. “Let us have the complete presentation,” he urged.