PAF’S POSSIBLE LOSS, NEW CITY’S GAIN?

TARLAC: The management of Clark Development Corp. (CDC) is eyeing to make about 80 hectares of land available inside the Clark Freeport Zone (CFZ) by relocating the Philippine Air Force (PAF) housing, currently located in the area. CDC Vice President for Administration and Finance Mariza Mandocdoc said moving PAF housing to the Clark Special Economic Zone in Tarlac would pave the way for the rising of a new city. “Clark has very limited available land. If there will be a relocation of the PAF facility, then we can make available fresh lands for lease. Eighty hectares is a very big land,” she said. Clark Air Base was built in 1903 as a United States military facility. It became Clark International Airport and PAF City after the departure of American forces in 1991. Mandocdoc said the CDC also aims to make Clark a model customs system in partnership with the Bureau of Customs (BoC). The CDC targets to perk up businesses inside Clark by ensuring rapid movements of goods in the freeport through efficient systems with the BoC. “We want our services to allow our locators to operate at the least cost and to lower their expenses in whatever transactions. We are planning on the right policies to implement or what we can add to fix the systems. We are always deliberating about everything to better serve our locators,” Mandocdoc said. The CFZ has been home to foreign and local locators since 1993, including American, Japanese, Taiwanese, South Korean and other key corporations.