20 years later, BCDA re-brands

BAGUIO City—The Bases Conversion and Development Authority has a new brand name for all its corporations amid the sour economic times:  The Bases Group.

Arnel Paciano Casanova, BCDA president and chief executive officer, said the group covers subsidiary firms operating the Subic Freeport, Clark Economic Zone, Bataan Technology Park, Camp John Hay Economic Zone and Poro Point Economic Zone at the former Wallace Air Station.

This group will now be working together as government improves the commercialization of former American baselands and raise capital for the Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization plan, he said.

Casanova said the new name should be seen as the best manifestation of progress achieved by the government since the Americans were eased out of the bases 20 years ago.

Synchronizing all BCDA-administered projects would improve the pace of making these facilities more profitable for the government, he explained.

The conglomerate’s first undertaking is to “complete the terminals [of] the Clark International Airport, including the entire aviation complex to accommodate 5 million to 7 million passengers by 2015 and start the construction of the Gateway Terminal by 2014.”

Casanova said the BCDA firms were convinced that integrating their plans and resources made sense because of the opportunities opened by the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

He said NAIA has become too congested and that there is now a need to develop a Clark gateway that is supplemented by the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), a Luzon railway, seaports of Subic Bay and Poro Point, and tourism traffic generated by Baguio City and the casino operating in San Fernando City in La Union.

Casanova led a three-day synergy conference at Camp John Hay here late last month to draw support for the new brand.

“All these years, most of these economic zones and subsidiaries were operating like separate entities… Pero kulang pa rin (But the progress they made was just not enough),” Casanova said.

“In 20 years, these [economic zones] should have been the catalyst for economic development in their respective areas [and should have had] a national impact in terms of [BCDA’s] contribution to employment, investments and infrastructure. So now we want them to work together,” he said.

Casanova said the BCDA was created in 1992 to address the economic consequences of four major disasters that visited the country in that period: Baguio earthquake (1990); Mt. Pinatubo eruption (1991); pullout of the American military bases (1991), which dislocated thousands of workers; and the series of attempted coups (1987 to 1992), which pushed the national economy to the brink of collapse.

One of the Bases Group’s stated goals is to review and draw up a unified master plan by 2012 covering all BCDA properties.

Casanova said this may compel some economic zones to drop projects that no longer suit the new conglomerate’s overall vision.

On October 27, Jamie Eloise Agbayani, president and CEO of John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC), graced the launching ceremony for the first phase of the P1-billion Baguio-Ayala Land Technohub.

Antonino Aquino, president and CEO of Ayala Land Inc., said the improved economy was driven by the business process outsourcing industry, which has increased the potential of the firm’s techno-hub projects.

Antonio Yniguez III, chief operating officer of Fil Estate-owned Camp John Hay Development Corp (CJHDevco), the John Hay developer, said the company was planning to introduce its own BPO village at the former Voice of America (VOA).

The presidents of The Bases Group also agreed to pursue the completion by 2018 of a railway linking the Diosdadao Macapagal International Airport in Clark to Metro Manila and to orient the Poro Point airport in the San Fernando City as a feeder airport.

They also agreed to improve the container port of the San Fernando seaport, and develop the tourism infrastructure of Clark, John Hay, Poro Point and Bataan to sustain air traffic at the Clark gateway.

“(Government) has these assets that could have been utilized properly. By working together in a synchronized program, the impact (of SCTEx, Luzon railways or seaport) would be bigger,” Casanova said.