The Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) released on June 8 the first tranche or some P1.5 million of the P23.5-million fund as financial assistance to informal settlers affected by the development of the 167-hectare Global Gateway Logistics City (GGLC) in the Industrial Estate 5 (IE5) in the Clark Freeport Zone.
“This is for your future, especially for your children, where a Global Gateway Logistics City will rise to create employment for them as well as to catapult the development of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA),” CIAC President and CEO Victor Jose I. Luciano told the beneficiaries during the simple ceremony held at the CIAC Aerodine where at least P1.5 million were awarded to 8 informal settlers as part of CIAC’s financial assistance program.
CIAC had set aside some P23.5 million as financial assistance to the informal settlers that would be affected by the development of the IE5 area.
At least 107 informal settlers are expected to receive financial assistance in the coming weeks. A task force was created by CIAC officials to facilitate the distribution of the financial assistance to the informal settlers at IE5. The task force is composed of CIAC, CDC, and Commission on Audit personnel.
Among the beneficiaries awarded were Baby Carla Lacsina, Maricel Munoz, Edelyn Macabanti, Romeo Mallari, Felix Yumang, Orlando Dayrit, Antonio Layug and Edna Ruz.
Luciano led the distribution of the checks and was witnessed by CIAC Executive Vice-President and COO Alexander Cauguiran, Vice-President for Administration and Finance Romeo Dyoco Jr. and officials of Peregrine International Development headed by President Dennis Wright and Jim Spore.
“The Task Force is currently undertaking this process to develop the 167-hectare site for the GGLC. This is a big project of the KGL Investment Company that would pave the way for the development of DMIA,” Luciano said.
He said the process involves a census, actual surveys and guidelines for financial assistance to the 107 informal settlers at the IE5 area in the former CABCOM evacuation center that housed lahar victims displaced by the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
Luciano also expressed his gratitude for the support of the informal settlers saying that “it will benefit the whole region by creating more employment to the people not only in Clark but as well as the whole Central and Northern Luzon.”
On August 25, 2008, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led the groundbreaking ceremonies for the $1-billion GGLC that it is expected to create 70,000 jobs in the next five to seven years. The project is being developed by the KGL Investment Company a Kuwaiti based firm.
The billion-dollar logistics project will host aviation-related and dependent businesses including, but not limited to, warehousing, distribution, multi-nodal logistics, light manufacturing along side complimentary business operations and facilities to support aviation related activities within the 2,367-hectare Clark Civil Aviation Complex.
KGL is a global leader with over 50 years of experience in transportation, logistics, stevedoring, passenger transport, warehousing, supply chain management, and port operations. KGL currently operates in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Tunisia, Oman, Namibia, Morocco, Pakistan, Germany, Ireland, Cayman, Mauritius and Egypt.