CDC cites top 5 Clark locators

CLARK ZONE, Pampanga – Officials of the Clark Development Corp. have cited 10 commercial firms inside Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) for providing some P239.4 million income to the state-owned firm in the last two and a half years.

CDC president Emmanuel Y. Angeles said the lease income earned by CDC from the commercial locators led by Puregold Duty Free, Inc., Clark Trading Corp., Demagus Trading, Clark Liberty, and Duty Free Shoppers, Inc. will boost economic development at the ecozone.

Others were Royal Duty Free, Arjan Trading, Grand Duty Free, Clark Interiors, and Duty Free First/Best Buy Store. The income generated by CDC from the commercial industries has been considered a breakthrough since the present management team, headed by Angeles and CDC chairman Rizalino Navarro, were appointed by President Arroyo in March 2001.

Income earned from the top five commercial locators in 2001 was P108.5 million, P87.8 million in 2002, and P43.1 million from January to June this year.

Angeles said that the income earned came only from the 10 locators as there are more other locators in Clark who have made the state-owned firm more viable since its inception in 1993. CDC vice president for finance Noel Manankil noted that Puregold topped the list in income earned for CDC, reporting more than P127.6 million for the past two and a half years while coming a far second is Clark Trading with P21.6 million.

Manankil said that CDC earned about P16.04 million from the Demagus Trading, P16.01 million from Clark Liberty and P11.9 million was earned from the Duty Free Shoppers, Inc., P11.5 million from Royal Duty Free, P9.4 from Arjan Trading, P8.7 million from Grand Duty Free, P8.4 million from Duty Free First/Best Buy, and P8 million from Clark Interior.

Earlier, CDC also reported that committed investments that were secured for the first semester of this year already neared the P1 billion mark from the 30 contracts signed from January to June this year.

CDC said that these new projects in Clark have also committed some 1,270 workers within the first year of their operations, increasing this to 2,212 within the next five years.