Clark Freeport—Unwanted structures, including sleeping quarters of employees of privately-owned companies, clotheslines and junkyards, and other eyesores to visitors were removed and dismantled Tuesday by Clark International Airport authorities to make the aviation complex tidy and presentable to foreign guests.
Illegal structures and stockpile of junks were noticeable in some areas of the 200-hectare aviation complex, prompting CIAC President and CEO Aaron Aquino to call for the clearing of prohibited structures within the airport zone.
“We made earlier appeal to the people responsible for these ‘eyesores’ to voluntarily remove these facilities because they disfigure the commercial and business landscape of the Clark Freeport Zone but to no avail (so) we have to enforce what is lawful and necessary to make things happen,” Aquino stated in his directive to all tenants in the aviation complex.
Aquino also ordered the demolition of improvised facilities and crudely built shacks and cleaned the surroundings of piles of garbage and junk in open view of the public.
CIAC is the government agency tasked to manage the Clark civil aviation complex, which is also home to the privately-run Clark International Airport, along with some 45 locators engaged in aviation- and non-aviation related businesses.
Last July, CIAC formally requested its locators to refrain from building makeshift structures without the government’s prior consent and approval.
“My orders are to immediately dismantle these illegal structures, secure the area and prohibit the entry of unauthorized persons, vehicles or equipment or farm animals, to ensure orderliness and create a more conducive business environment,” Aquino added.
The CIAC chief cited that most of the areas with illegal structures are leasable lands and, therefore, need to be appealing to an investment hub like the aviation complex.