The Mimosa Golf and Country Club still remains to be one of the better facilities and attractions of the Clark Freeport Zone. This is in spite of the lack of investment and management focus over the property and its investors/locators over the past 12 years since its takeover by the Clark Development Corporation.
Negligence may be too harsh an evaluation but certainly the due effort and diligence of a real and competent owner/management has been severely lacking.
A review of the infrastructures, both operating and those left to the ravages of the elements, reveal old, dated, if not delapidated, facilities.
It is the site and situation of beautiful old trees and greenery and the continued patronage of customers and the locators of the zone which enables the property to retain its character and ambiance.
There is, therefore, the Holiday Inn, with its systems in place and competent and friendly personnel.
The Mimosa Golf courses, two of them originally in above standard condition and still well maintained, are still fully patronized by its members as well as the influx of Korean players.
The casino is, according to one evaluation by a potential buyer, “provincial” with outdated equipment and gaming machines. The rest of the locators in the area are mainly restaurants with no significant branding or offerings.
Clark Development Corporation took over Mimosa due to some crucial noncompliances by Tony Gonzales and his group, which, as of today,is not the issue except as a de facto situation.
To its credit, CDC has tried to operate the property inspite of the built-in contraints. Likewise, CDC has recognized that operating a country club, golf course and resort facilities is not its business.
It could not be a major player in the zone and sat the same time be the referee or game official. It should not be a locator-investor and at the same time be the the manager-operator of the zone.
This would be unfair to the other players, like Fontana and others in specific product areas. Or probably it would be a situation provided by the gods, of being mediocre competition.( he! he! )
To its further credit, CDC has also tried to privatized Mimosa and get an investor to assume all of the obligations, put in additional equity for further development according to its highest and best use, and operate the facilities in accordance with its functional role in the zone’s mandate.
There have been five biddings, December2003, August 2005, April 2008, January 2009 and August 2011. All of them failed.
Mimosa derives its name from the Greek word “mimos”, to mimic. It is given to a genus of herbs and shrubs.
The more prominent plant is the mimosa pudica, whose leaves fold inward when touched.
This is what we commonly refer to as the “makahiya.” Another type is the mimosa tenuiflora whose bark contains DMT an element for psychedelic states. The nomenclature, hopefully, doesnot indicate the operational status and future of Mimosa.
With its 200 hectares, being of a substantial area and strategic location within the Clark Main Zone, Mimosa needs to be maximized in terms of its financial contribution to CDC and its role in terms of facilities and functional amenities.
The three main facilities and revenue centers- Holiday Inn; Golf , Country Club and Villas; and the Regency Casino do not contribute substantially to these requirements. Obviously, CDC can not and should not be the operator/ management.
Opportunity costs, the ravages of time and the developing competence and sophistication of competition require that the Mimosa asset be placed under the strategic control and management of a qualified and competent investor/ management. The time is now while CDC may still be able to get a good deal for the asset.
The process, being a government transaction, may be tedious and meticulous in accordance with laws, rules and regulations.
The point is to think outside the box, undertake this process economically with results as the end in view, without politics and personal agenda of the those in power.
Finally, Mimosa may no longer fold its leaves but open them to all the opportunities.
