Bicam panel OKs freeport status for Clark ecozone

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — "It’s like winning the championship in a world football match."

This was how Liberato Laus, president and chief executive officer of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), described the approval by a bicameral committee of a freeport status for the entire 4,400-hectare Clark special economic zone after months of lobbying for it.

"Clark now has the same status as the Subic Freeport," Laus said after the panel approved last Monday the proposal granting tax and duty free incentives to at least 389 investors employing more than 47,000 people at the Clark ecozone.

This former US military base-turned-ecozone would be called the Clark Freeport Zone once President Arroyo signs the bill.

Laus, who led the lobby for the granting of tax incentives to Clark investors and locators, said the lawmakers’ decision "will have a tremendous impact not only on Clark but on the whole of Central Luzon."

"It will be the start of a bigger and far-reaching growth and development for Clark and the whole Central Luzon. Now we can really say that the future of Clark is so bright, you have to wear shades," he said.

Pepito Galang, CDC vice president for corporate services, said the bicameral committee reconciled Senate Bill (SB) 2260, authored by Senators Ralph Recto and Richard Gordon, and House Bill (HB) 5064, authored by former Tarlac Rep., now Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, declaring a freeport status for Clark.

The panel prevailed over a proposal to declare half of the ecozone under the control of the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA).

With the freeport status, Clark investors would be entitled to tax-free importation not only of raw materials, but also of finished products, which would be advantageous to duty free shops.

The CDC would remain as the administrator of the ecozone, with its subsidiary, the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), managing the 2,200-hectare aviation complex that hosts the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.

"We are thankful to our good senators and congressmen who have supported the bills and our advocacy from the very start and the people of Central Luzon owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their wholehearted support," Laus said.  

Besides Recto and Gordon, among those who gave their all-out support were Senators Manuel "Lito" Lapid, Mar Roxas and Sergio Osmena III, and Reps. Francis Nepomuceno, Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, Rey Aquino and Anna York Bondoc-Sagum.

Laus also thanked CDC chairman Rizalino Navarro and the directors, executives and employees of the state-run firm for their hard work and prayers for the approval of the bills.

"Everyone really gave their best for this and we thank God for hearing our prayers," he said.

The bicameral committee also earlier reconciled HB 4900 and SB 2259 granting a one-time tax amnesty to Clark investors.

The bills were filed after the Supreme Court, in its July 2005 decision, ruled that investors at Clark and other former US military facilities converted into ecozones are not covered by Republic Act 7227 or the Bases Conversion Law.

Only locators at the Subic Freeport, according to the tribunal, are entitled to such tax incentives.

Frankie Villanueva, president of the Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA), also thanked the senators and congressmen who supported Clark’s freeport status.

He expressed confidence that this would finally remove "the feeling of uncertainty among current and prospective investors" at the ecozone.

He said the President is expected to sign the bill into law soon as this would boost her plans to make the Clark-Subic corridor a major investments hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

Villanueva also lauded Laus, who had lobbied for the passage of the Senate bill as initially proposed by Recto.

Since the CDC was created in 1993 to administer the entire Clark ecozone, 389 local and foreign investors have moved in, infusing P24.33 billion in investments.

Last year alone, Clark investors exported $1 billion in various goods. Over 47,000 people, mostly from Pampanga, Tarlac, and Bulacan, are employed at the ecozone.