Grafix from build.gov.ph
CLARK FREEPORT – A mass action led by the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) will culminate here if the alignment of the Subic-Clark Railway Project (SCRP) will push through with its original design.
This, as the multi-sectoral advocacy group questioned on Tuesday the authority of the Bases Conversion Development Authority over lands outside the former US bases.
PGKM chair Ruperto Cruz said RA 7227 or the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992 is an act “accelerating the conversion of military reservations into other productive uses and does not include properties outside the base lands.”
Cruz said the SCRP is “being implemented without any public consultation at all” even if its alignment will reportedly encroach on titled properties outside its jurisdiction.
Cruz said the PGKM will mobilize a mass action composed of land owners and housing developers, businessmen, farmers and those whose properties will be affected by the alignment.
He also said if push comes to shove, the PGKM will “take it to the Senate hearing.”
Cruz said “the railway project is just a table survey because it lacks a proper study on how it will impact on the lives and livelihood of the people.”
Cruz said Porac is destined to become a city soon because of the ongoing development in the area but the railway project will throw a monkey wrench in the ongoing development.
“Besides it’s just a rail freight transport because it will be used only for cargo,” Cruz added.
He said ongoing projects in the area will be affected. He said high-rise buildings will soon rise in Porac and the town will be transformed into “the Makati of Pampanga, if not Central Luzon.”
“Why insist on the alignment that will affect development in the area?” Cruz asked. “Why did they not consider the present Subic-Clark Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) alignment for the railway project?”
He said “the multi-billion cost of the project will be of better use if a railway from Laoag, Ilocos Norte to Clark, Pampanga that can both ferry cargo and passengers will be built instead.”
Meanwhile, Lani Macasaet, BCDA communications director, said the Department of Transportation is in charge of the SCRP alignment. She referred Punto Central Luzon to DOTr Assistant Secretary Goddes Libiran.
However, texts and calls to Libiran’s cellphone remain unanswered as of press time.
