ANGELES CITY – “Clark is not a pastureland for military retirees, nor is it a milking cow for politicians.”
Thus the advocacy group Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement “definitively disqualified” retired military men and former elected officials from its preferred man-profile for president of the Clark Development Corp.
This developed as the CDC presidency is vacated anew when its officer-in-charge, former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Eduardo Oban was appointed undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications.
“With due respect, military men have their jobs cut out for them. And the corporate world is nowhere near there,” PGKM chair Ruperto Cruz said.
Aside from Oban, only one other military retiree headed the CDC, former Air Force General Romeo David, during the Fidel Ramos presidency.
As to politicians, Cruz feared that the CDC could end up as “fund source for election campaigns, or a dumping ground for their campaign supporters in need of employment.”
“Politics, as we know, is the art of the compromise,” Cruz said. “And the Freeport could be easily compromised for some political ends.”
Cruz was however quick to add that PGKM had “nothing personal against politicians.” Among those reported as wanting to head CDC is Clark International Airport Corp. vice president for operations Rey Catacutan, a former three-term mayor of Bamban.
“Political loyalties can be detrimental to the Clark Freeport. Conspiracies can arise out of vested interests taking precedence over those of the Freeport and the communities around it,” Cruz said.
Cruz cited what he called the “delayed, if not stunted, development” of the Clark International Airport as “a case in point.”
The PGKM has held that an alleged “conspiracy of national politicians and Manila-based imperial dragons” is “sabotaging” the development of the CIA “in a mutuality of benefits – campaign funds for the politicians, and protection of the Manila-based businesses.”
“The Clark airport as fully operational premier international gateway will shift the center of business and commerce from the metropolis,” said Cruz. “This, the mandarins of Metro Manila could not allow.”
In his stint as DOTC secretary and chair of the CIAC Board, Mar Roxas, now Interior and Local Governments chief, was denounced by the PGKM as “anti-Kapampangan, anto-development” for allegedly “denigrating the Clark airport” to be the country’s premier gateway.
“He had all excuses, from the long distance to the need of a railway system, not to develop the Clark airport,” Cruz said.
“The fact that in his term as CIAC chairman, he never attended a single board meeting speaks of Roxas’ single-minded intention not to develop Clark,” Cruz added.
The PGKM branded Roxas then as “unfit to be President” for his alleged “unconcern for the well-being not only of Pampanga and Central Luzon but of the rest of northern Luzon.”
“Clark airport services four regions – Central Luzon, Ilocos, Cagayan and Cordillera. By apparently sitting on its development, Roxas in effect stunted the development of the millions of people in these regions,” Cruz said.
“That is no way for a President to do.”
Corporate visionary
While declining to name any candidate for CDC president, the PGKM said “the ideal is one not only experienced in the corporate world but also a visionary.”
“We have had really good CDC presidents in the past who brought the big, blue chip investments to the Freeport,” Cruz said.
He named Rufo Colayco and Tony Ng, “both non-Kapampangans but worked their hearts out for Clark,” as exemplary among the CDC presidents.
Both Colayco and Ng are known to have lost the CDC presidency due to political maneuverings of those whose interests they did not cater to.
