WITHIN a brief period – barely a semester – to make his final mark, Clark Development Corporation president Benigno N. Ricafort is expected to get a superior grade for his performance. Magna cum laude, maybe.
“This is because of the sound economic agenda instituted by his administration, and largely due to the support the state-owned firm extended to various crisis-affected investors who are now fully recovering from the global meltdown,” according to his public relations office.
His outstanding rating comes from Ricafort’s achievement in President Arroyo’s priority agenda at Clark which is employment, according to CDC PR manager Angelo Lopez, Jr.
In his term, Clark has breached the 57,000-mark in job generation and employment while restoring 3,000 jobs to workers displaced by the fund crisis starting in 2008,” Lopez reported.
Benny Ricafort, in a policy statement upon his assumption to office, promised not to outdo or outshine the former CDC presidents, but that he will build upon the great edifice they already constructed, “by adding new stones to the citadel, block by block with my own achievement.”
His work objective has fulfilled great results with the phenomenal increase in the number of workers at Clark, a verifiable measurement of good performance. Lopez saw this as an indication of continued economic recovery and growth and validated by investors’ confidence in his governance.
Romeo Yusi, former Region 3 governor of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry said it is the stability of CDC’s policies plus industrial peace at the state firm that has been attracting the entry of new projects in the past two years.
Yusi had learned from investors who are his security/protective service clients at Clark that they “felt protected by Ricafort whom they admire for his amiability, accessibility, and understanding of capital investments in a developing country.”
Angeles and Mabalacat business leaders also cited Ricafort’s vision of a New Frontier and its incipient development as central interest of future investors in tourism, education, and agri-industrial enterprises.
Benny launched the massive Sacobia valley development project, dubbed the New Frontier a year ago. It has since become a magnet for investors who found the virginal forest and hilly terrain ideal and conducive to their tourism-oriented endeavors, according to PR deputy chief Noel Tulabot.
Malacanang officials who had periodically visited the Sacobia Valley were impressed over the growing development activities. They confirmed the positive support by President Arroyo for Ricafort’s bold initiatives to make Clark the Region’s employment capital and contribute to the socio-economic uplift of Filipino lives in Central Luzon, according to Director Ma. Theresa Laus.
Realizing his limited time to push the CDC machine to full throttle, Benny has been exerting hectic efforts to create investors’ surging interest to the major contributors of the Clark free port’s success. He has led initiatives creating “corporate noise and fury” over the need to expand the industrial sector, including those for garment, electronic, furniture, tourism activities, and Business Process Outsourcing.
In his short stint to this date, the CDC chief had submitted his accomplished “homework.” He will get good credit for the employment generation from some 107 firms which are service-related, 115 from the industrial sector, and miscellaneous others all with over 50,000 workers.
So far there are a total of 439 firms which have signed lease agreements. 418 are registered locators with thousands of workers, it was learned.
The CDC had lost one tenant though - the DFA Consular Office at Clark which relocated to the City of San Fernando. Ricafort exerted diligent efforts and made diplomatic overtures to retain the off ice at Clark but the Department of Foreign Affairs decided otherwise. The DFA has turned down Ricarfort’s offer – and then CDC head Levy Laus’s, too- to have their own permanent building at Clark.
“Benny ano ba ang naririnig kong natutulog ka sa pansitan?” President Arroyo was quoted to have said.
“Hindi po ako nagpabaya dito, Madam President,” Benny replied in jest to Mrs. Arroyo, “baka ang mga taga-bantay po ang mahimbing nakatulog.”
Ricafort now demanded from Consular official to furnish the CDC a three-year record of passport applicants served, with breakdown per province and city within the region to find out the exact figures on passport servicing and revenues earned.
That will settle the pragmatic issue of the Consular Office’s relocation and the need to establish its satellite office at Clark.
In the meantime, Pampangos commended Ricafort for his remarkable performance at Clark, and for his humanitarian work in providing surgical support and prosthetics to handicapped and disabled cabalen. No other CDC president has made this kind of initiative for the poor, Rotary district deputy governor Rudy Mallari said.
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The Engineers
May I congratulate TIPCO’S Engr. Rox Peña for an award given him by the Metro Clark Chamber of Commerce & Industry for his outstanding work in environmental advocacy. Here’s one genuine public servant that Mabalacat can claim as truly its own. Peña deserves a resounding victory in the municipal council contest in that town. His presence in the Council will provide dynamism, respect, and integrity to the Board.
In San Fernando, a repeater like Rox, is Engr. Marnie Castro. He deserves a much delayed reward for his voluntary work and sacrifice in local disaster prevention, flood abatement, and public safety. Marnie Castro in the City Council is an anticipated event by Fernandinos.