CIAC defers rental collection at Clark airport

Airlines and other airport stakeholders got a reprieve from their rental obligations at the Clark Civil Aviation Complex in Pampanga province.

State-run Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) said in a statement it was deferring the collection of lease rentals from locators.

Clark Civil Aviation Complex is managed by CIAC. The complex is also home to the Clark International Airport, operated by a joint venture between JG Summit Holdings and Filinvest Development Corp., and the mixed-use business district Clark Global City.

In the statement, CIAC said the payment deferral was a “direct response to President Duterte’s appeal during his recent State of the Nation Address (Sona) for government agencies to assist the business sector adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

CIAC president Aaron Aquino said about 45 locators would benefit from payment deferrals covering the months of April to June, or the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period.

Moreover, Aquino said CIAC locators would be given a 30-day grace period from the last due date of their rental payments, or from the date of the lifting of the ECQ, modified ECQ (MECQ) and general community quarantine (GCQ), “whichever is longer, without incurring interests.”

After the grace period, locators are then given the option of paying their unsettled accounts through a 12-month installment scheme, he said.

“This means the amount of rentals accrued by locators during the ECQ, MECQ and GCQ can be equally amortized in 12 months following the end of the 30-day grace period, and again without interest or penalties,” Aquino said.

He said the policies would be applied while awaiting an official guideline from the Department of Trade Industry on the request of both Clark Development Corp. and the Bases Conversion Development Authority to allow the grant of full waiver on payment of lease rentals from April to June 2020.