PGKM backs CIAC execs over hotel row

• Source:http://punto.com.ph/News/Article/24155/Volume-9-No-56/Headlines/PGKM-backs-CIAC-execs-over-hotel-row
• Saturday, December 19, 2015

By Ashley Manabat

ANGELES CITY – The Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) has thrown its full support behind the executives of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) for standing firm on their decision not to allow non-airport related industries into the 2,400-hectare Clark civil aviation complex where the Clark International Airport (CIA) is located.

PGKM Chair Ruperto Cruz said CIAC executives should not be cowed into submitting to the dictates of anybody including politicians in order to maintain the viability of the Clark airport as the next premier international gateway of the country that is free from the problems besetting the heavily-congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila.

“Only airport-related industries should be allowed in the Clark civil aviation complex,” Cruz averred.

In a statement released to the media over-the-weekend, former Angeles City mayor and Pampanga Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” F. Lazatin lambasted CIAC President- CEO Emigdio “Dino” Tanjuatco III for his alleged apathy and favoritism which runs contrary to the “Tuwid na Daan (Straight Path)” of the national government.

Lazatin, now chairman of the Amalgamated Builders and Contractors Inc. which operates the Hotel Stotsenberg and Casablanca Casino in Clark, said “there is no clear process in leasing the idle property owned by the Clark International Airport Corporation contrary to what its CEO Emigdio Tanjuatco III claimed.”

Lazatin was reacting on Tanjuatco’s statement that there is no favoritism and that they have a process that is being implemented for leasing properties.

Lazatin said his company has signified its intention to join the bidding but more than one year had passed and not even the initial stages of the bidding process happened. “As far as we know, there is a time table for the bidding,” Lazatin noted.

“Nasaan na ang tuwid na daan (Where is the straight path)? I thought they are adhering to the tuwid na daan’ of the President? Korba-korba ang daan, hindi pa natin nakikita (The road is not only crooked but we can’t even see it),” Lazatin lamented.

Earlier, Lazatin assailed CIAC Marketing Officer Jesus Abelardo “Jay” Punzalan for allegedly “giving them the runaround” in connection with the planned leasing of three buildings under the control of the CIAC.

Lazatin said Punzalan had failed to allow them to operate “the idle buildings beside our hotel despite following the laws and the instructions and recommendations.

Lazatin said what is worse is that they are receiving reports that the CIAC is waiting for a favored foreign investor to lease the buildings. “As far as I know, we local investors deserve equal treatment but the CIAC is playing favorites to a reported generous foreign firm,” he added.

Lazatin in a letter to Tanjuatco said his firm is willing to invest a minimum of P100 million and provide employment for some 300 persons. He offered to lease the buildings and the area for the next 25 years with a minimum guaranteed lease of $1.60 per square meter.

“The escalation of the minimum guaranteed lease for the property shall be 10 percent compounded every five years thereafter,” Lazatin said.