I SERVED as a member of the board of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) for several years. I shared the board room with notable people, the likes of former Armed Forces chief-of-staff General Narciso Abaya, a West Pointer; Al Santos, an economist and a college professor; former Philippine Navy Flag Officer in Command (FOIC) Ferdinand ‘Toto’ Golez; former Social Security System and Union Bank President Rene Valencia; Chito Gascon, now Human Rights Commission chairman, and few more others who were all known newsmakers at sometime.
In my years of stint in BCDA, I collected fond memories of my own which I will carry to the grave. Those discussions and arguments with the country’s best minds, the likes of former Congressman Tong Payumo; lawyer Arnel Casanova, a University of the Philippine professor; Mel Alonzo, former president of the PAG-IBIG fund; Boots Garcia, a former senior official of SGV and so many other people with high intelligence.
Now many of us already faded out from public view, and busy with other enterprises, like Tong Payumo who is busy with his Sinag-Tala resort in Orani, Bataan and me on my writings on this op-Ed section and my "TRENDING MAX" tri-weekly show on Cable CTV 3. There are new people now at the state agency, as it is normal for new president of the republic to pick his own team. Casanova's replacement is Vince Dizon, whose late father whom I call Cong Esting. He was from Porac town and also called Capas, Tarlac as his home for they owned a large estate there. Of course one of the most challenging jobs in the government today is to become president of BCDA. It is far bigger in responsibilities than any of the agencies of government today. With my apology to my friends from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). BCDA performs better than the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). I admit I am bias because I used to be director of BCDA.
Vince Dizon is the Steph Curry of BCDA. He is a high scorer. He is a spitfire. He also wants to be a winner despite the odds. He has an impeccable credentials to head the agency. He has plate full now as BCDA is deeply involved in the Duterte’s "Build, Build, Build" program. He is also behind the full acceleration of the upgrading of the Clark International Airport.
To recall, BCDA finished the SCTEX, a 93-kilometer road without spending a single centavo, and after it was finished it was grabbed by the MVP group and came up with an upfront cash of several billions that made the government's treasury richer. Earnings in billions of pesos are being poured to finance many government expenditures, the biggest of which goes to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernization.
All former US military installations are titled to BCDA,the likes of Clark Freeport, John Hay, Poro Point and other areas are considered estates. The disposition of the more than 300 hectares Fort Bonifacio sometimes meet problems. The John Hay controversy with the Sobrepenas is still far from over. The planned 9,000 hectares of Clark Green City in Capas is one big challenge. President Vince Dizon shouldn't fail. The Dizons’ roots are from my hometown of Porac. His lawyer father and many Dizon kins are not used to failures (Francisco S. Dizon of Dizon Farms in Davao City and Celestino Dizon of Dizon Mines are two examples).I can conclude that BCDA is in the doorstep of its glorious years with Vince at the helm.