Saying “we need more roads for the airport once it becomes fully developed,” PGKM Chair Ruperto Cruz also vowed to oppose the Singapore-based Capilion Corp. Pte. Ltd. which signed a lease agreement with the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) for a P7-billion long term lease and development of a three-hectare lot in the area.
Cruz said here over the weekend that Capilion is more suitable to find a relocation site in the much ballyhooed 10,000-hectare Clark Green City in the Clark sub zone rather than insists on putting up its building in front of SM City Clark along M.A. Roxas Avenue.
Already, environmentalists are alarmed over the reported development in the area including a nine-storey Capilion building which will destroy several trees in the area.
“What’s the status? Will it enjoy duty free and tax privileges just like Clark locators?” asked Cruz.
“The area is already developed. We’re expecting them (Capilion) to develop undeveloped areas like the sub zone,” he said.
Cruz said “Capilion will only hurt the local businesses” already established in the area.
This clearly violates the spirit of the law (R.A. 7227) which calls for parallel development in the surrounding communities in Clark, Cruz said.
The area should instead be preserved for future road expansion for a fully functioning Clark airport, Cruz pointed out.
He noted that most of the hotels are now complaining of low occupancy rates and business establishments are also complaining of lack of customers with the continued government apathy on Clark airport.
The CDC should refrain from signing lease agreements that constrict the development of the Clark airport, said Cruz.
It seems that the Capilion project will only serve the vested interests of some officials, he said. An investigation should be made on what companies directly benefitted from the project, he added.
