The Philippines has done it. It has ignited an explosion of economic growth and built a momentum of progress that can stand toe to toe even with that of China. The only task now is to ensure that the continued economic growth sustains itself for many years to come. To that end, expect to see more headlines about the Clark Freeport Zone in the future.
In December 2017, it was decided that a new passenger terminal would be constructed in the Clark International Airport in Pampanga. The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the government agency in charge of the development and expansion of the area, fielded offers from competing property developers, including large state-owned companies from China.
In addition, this month, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, in cooperation with the Philippine government, announced the start of the engineering designs for the second phase of the Philippine National Railways Clark North Project that will connect Malolos City in Bulacan and the Clark International Airport. The first phase of the project, which connects Tutuban in Metro Manila to Malolos City, has begun construction. The P150-billion railway, which is expected to be finished by 2020, will run from Tutuban all the way to Clark International Airport and will be an electrified, fully elevated and standard gauge railway.
These new developments, among others, have the potential to raise Clark as an area of heightened national significance, as the zone’s airport is largely seen by experts as an alternative to the traffic-laden Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Metro Manila. The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) in 2017 called on the government to hasten the expansion of both NAIA and Clark to support the growing number of flights to and from the country.
“Upgrading the existing NAIA facilities now will provide early and welcome relief to the present problem of severe passenger and aircraft traffic congestion at a time well within the term of the current administration. Pending completion of the upgrades, one quick way of mitigating the congestion in NAIA is to make Clark attractive as an alternate departure and arrival airport through appropriate inducements,” the business group said.
The proposal issued by MAP — whose membership includes over a thousand executives, law and auditing partners and other senior officials of the country’s largest businesses – advocates for a comprehensive approach to the infrastructure development for the Greater Manila Area and Luzon, signifying the potential importance of Clark to the country’s economic future.
It is not altogether surprising as Clark bowed to the same fate in the past. Historically, the area that is now known as Clark Freeport Zone has been the center of many significant events around the time of the American Occupation. Originally a United States Air Force base called Clark Air Base, it grew into a major air base around the time of the Cold War and eventually served as an important logistics hub during the United States’ war with Vietnam.
With an area almost the size of Singapore, at over 33,000 hectares of land, Clark Air Base became one of the most urbanized military facilities in history and was the largest American base overseas. At its peak around the year 1990, the base had a permanent population of an estimated 15,000. It had a base exchange, a large commissary, a small shopping arcade, a branch department store, cafeterias, teen centers, a hotel, miniature golf, riding stables, zoo, and other concessions.
Clark Air Base closed down in the early 1990s due to the decision of the Philippine government to stop the renewal of base’s lease. In November 1991, the United States Air Force lowered the U.S. flag and transferred control of Clark Air Base of to the Philippine government. After more than a decade, in 2007, Clark Air Base was renamed Clark Freeport Philippines, reflecting Clark’s transformation into a freeport, complete with tax-free and duty-free privileges for investors and developers.
Now, while parts of the area are still owned and operated by the Philippine Air Force, the Clark Freeport Zone stands as a sprawling metropolis that serves as a hub for business, industry, aviation, education, and tourism as well as a leisure, fitness, entertainment and gaming center in Central Luzon. The Clark Development Corporation, a subsidiary of the BCDA, oversees its development, and plans to turn the area into an airport-driven urban center targeting high-end IT enabled industries, aviation and logistics related enterprises, tourism and other sectors.
Clark taking on the role of a new gateway to the country can ease the infrastructure woes that have been plaguing Metro Manila. Its strategic location is a natural entry point to the Asia Pacific Region, only three and a half hours from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Korea and other key points in Asia. More important, new developments in the area could be seen as the first big step toward the decentralization of the country’s economic activity, redistributing the concentration of wealth in Luzon as well as attracting local and foreign investors at the same time.
For Clark, the future, in other words, is bright. — Bjorn Biel M. Beltran
