PAF poised to leave Clark to give way to more investors

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – Amid the shortage of land for investors at this freeport, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) announced that it is preparing to abandon some 300 hectares it is occupying here and move to its old base in Floridablanca town while it builds a new one at Crow Valley in Tarlac.

In an interview on a television show of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) here, Col. Francisco Cruz, commander of the 600th Air Base Wing here, said though that about P8 billion is needed “to pull out and transfer personnel, equipment and infrastructure from Clark.”

“We are just waiting for the master development plan to be finished before we could proceed with the pullout of personnel,” Cruz said.

But he said a small PAF contingent will remain at this freeport amid plans to convert the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport into a premier gateway.

The 600th Air Base Wing hosts seven other PAF units, including the newly revived 1st Air Division that covers the entire Luzon.

Every five years, the wing renews its contract with the CDC for the use of over 300 hectares of the freeport, including facilities such as a resort, a hotel and a small golf course in a contiguous area dubbed as “Air Force City.”

The PAF area is populated by 4,318 enlisted personnel and their dependents and civilian employees who live in 668 housing units built by the US Air Force but which were never used by the Americans who were caught up by the Senate decision to terminate the Military Bases Agreement in 1992.

Cruz said the PAF plans to move back to the old Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga and develop another area at the Crow Valley in Bamban, Tarlac where the joint military exercises of Philippine and American forces are held under the Visiting Forces Agreement.

Cruz did not say how much will be spent for the development of the Crow Valley site.

The PAF first moved to this former US military base on Feb. 16, 1979 to constitute the Clark Air Base Command (Cabcom).

This was after, for the first time since the Americans occupied Clark in 1901, the Philippine and American governments revised the Military Bases Agreement that established Philippine sovereignty over Clark. 

By the end of 1983, Cabcom had over 700 personnel, mostly assigned to secure the US base.

When the US Air Force left amid threat from Mt. Pinatubo in 1992 and the termination of the MBA the following year, the PAF stayed on and, in 1995, was granted over 300 hectares within the 4,500-hectare special economic zone for its use.

The CDC is looking into locating more investors in some 29,000 hectares in the freeport’s sub-zone areas in the north toward Tarlac. This area though is largely undeveloped and lacks infrastructure.