CLARK FREEPORT – The investigative committee of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) is expected to release next week the result of its probe on the alleged theft of underground aviation cables at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here last October.
Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president and chief executive officer Felipe Remollo, chairman of the investigative committee, told Punto yesterday “we have all the evidences and counter-evidences on the case”.
Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) vice president for operations Reynaldo Catacutan earlier held CIAC president Victor Jose Luciano responsible for allowing ACP Manpower access to “high security” areas of the DMIA aviation complex purportedly for “ground maintenance” operations.
ACP Manpower is a private firm known to be engaged in dealing with scraps Remollo, who is also acting chairman of CIAC), said his committee could come out with a decision on it in three days of deliberation. “We’ll be ready for it by next week,” he added.
The committee is also composed of BCDA chairman Arnel Casanova and CIAC board member Philip Mallari.
“We could finish our job even earlier, but the BCDA chairman is abroad,” Remollo said.
Luciano has remained on indefinite leave purportedly to “allow impartial investigation of the case.”
Reports submitted to Catacutan by the engineering and security departments identified four employees of ACP Manpower who were caught carting off underground cables allegedly from the runway and taxiway.
Some of the cables were recovered, but others remained missing. The missing cables were estimated to be worth P2.6 million.
Catacutan, who assumed post only four months ago, said the cables were supposed to act as back up for primary cables transmitting power to vital lights at the runway and taxiway.
But Luciano debunked this, and insisted that the missing cables which connect only the electric posts at the aviation complex’s periphery. “They are old cables installed way back in 1995 and must have been stolen over these years, not just at one time,” he said.
Catacutan said Luciano should be charged both administratively and criminally in the case, as he cited the latter’s two handwritten letters allowing the private group access to “high security” areas within the complex.
Remollo said his committee was tasked to find out whether Luciano and other CIAC personnel had any administrative liability over the reported theft, adding that it may also recommend the filing of criminal charges against private citizens involved.
Remollo clarified that his committee is different from the team of experts from the Office of Transportation and Safety (OTS) of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) which was merely tasked to find out whether the safety of the DMIA was affected by the stolen cables was compromised.
