Bases assume new role as hi-tech firms move in
NEARLY A DECADE AFTER THE U.S. HANDED OVER THE CLARK AIR BASE AND THE SUBIC BAY NAVAL BASE, THE PHILIPPINES IS REAPING THE REWARDS OF THE BASES' CONVERSION INTO HUGELY SUCCESSFUL FREE ZONES

SUBIC-CLARK EXPRESSWAY President Arroyo witnesses the signing of a $345 million loan agreement between Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) chairman Rogelio Singson and Japan Bank for International Cooperation governor Kyosuke Shinozawa. The loan was granted for the construction of a 92-kilometer toll road connecting the Subic and Clark economic zones.

They say breaking up is hard to do, but sometimes it is clearly the right thing to do. So there were no bad feelings or regrets in 1992 when the United States handed over the facilities on Luzon Island that it had built up and used as the main bases for its military presence in the Pacific ever since the end of World War II.
There was at the time, however, a great deal of concern about how to replace the 30,000 jobs generated by Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base during their Cold War heyday, and transform 84,000 hectares of prime real estate–topped with $12 billion worth of second-hand infrastructure situated 42 miles from Manila–in such a way that it would generate revenues for the new owners, the Philippine government.
Few could have expected a major success story that not only restored but multiplied the vanished jobs, created an environment that has attracted high-tech industries that gave rise to residential and recreational facilities, and became a major transport and communications hub serving all of Southeast Asia. A lot of the credit is due to the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA). Set up as an agency, the BCDA’s mission is to establish and coordinate subsidiaries which would serve as its implementing arm in developing the properties.

Rogelio T. Serafica CEO and President of Subic Hermosa Cyber City

To date, it has created a free zone in each of the former bases which have attracted companies such as Acer, Coastal Petroleum, AOL, and Aiwa, while UPS has its regional hub in Clark and Fed Ex operates out of Subic, which is 45 minutes driving time away, and has a smaller naval airfield. “Under the Arroyo administration, we are going to be even bolder and try to align the long-term objectives of both Clark and Subic. We’re promoting it as an integrated project,” says BCDA Chairman and President Rogelio L. Singson.
That involves physical as well as strategic fusion, to be made possible by a new toll highway linking Clark’s twin-runway international airport with Subic’s deep-water seaport. The Japa-nese government is providing a $345 million loan to help get that roadway built, while the local focus remains centered on IT infrastructure.

“We are going all out to offer maximum bandwidth and connectivity in the hope of seeing more call centers and software development outsourced to Clark-Subic,” says Mr. Singson. There are also plans to set up a central data processing facility for the Philippine government that would serve as a magnet for the future cyber-community. “We intend to offer infrastructure, high-end computing capability as well as training and incubation facilities.”
In addition to the digital drawing cards, BCDA’s satellite corporations are also at pains to ensure double-plus quality living standards and people-oriented perks, including an 18-hole golf course surrounded by luxurious family homes, anchored by a major resort hotel that should be opening by the end of the year. Japanese, British, and American schools will be the linchpin of a truly global community, whose residents will have a cathedral and a hospital at their disposal.

Felicito C. Payumo Chairman/Administrator of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority

The vision of a common destiny for Clark and Subic is shared by the chairman/administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Felicito C. Payumo, who has been working hard to see Subic Bay’s harbor become the country’s second-largest port, thanks to crane facilities and container terminals to be built by ICTSI and Royal Ports. A modern container port will be constructed with financing coming from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation that will have an eventual capacity of close to a million containers per year. This will complete the Subic-Clark intermodal transportation park. He is just as upbeat on prospects for developing the region around Subic, with its stretches of white sand beaches and 18,000 hectares of one of Asia’s last virgin rainforest, as an eco-tourism destination.

“They say industrial development and environmental protection can never go hand in hand. We want to prove them wrong in Subic,” says Mr. Payumo, for whom the worst agent of environmental degradation is poverty.
He has high hopes that people will be able to access Subic’s forests, wildlife and natural attractions through a series of minimally intrusive interfaces, including what will be the Philippines’ first marine park, Ocean Adventure, and cable cars skirting the tree canopy to take visitors deep into the jungle. Already Subic has finalized plans to set up retirement villages for Japanese, American, and other foreign senior citizens who find that their pensions go a long way further here than they do in their own countries. Security, always an issue in the Philippines, is another major selling point that Mr. Payumo and his associates have taken a great deal of trouble to optimize.

A quarter hour’s drive from Subic proper is Subic Hermosa Cyber City, a 93-hectare IT industrial park under development by one of Manila’s leading real estate and property management groups, Burgundi Realty Corporation. Its CEO and President Rogelio T. Serafica, says the aim is to provide a comfort level that will make it a major incentive to high-tech companies, starting from what he describes as “a tunnel through the red tape”.
“We will take care of registration, licensing, legal consultancy, customs clearance and make it as easy as checking into a hotel. We know the terrain and can help avoid a lot of blind alleys and pitfalls,” says Mr. Serafica, who describes the cyber city concept as a one-stop service center for businesses considering relocating to the Philippines, and thus benefit from its strategic advantages in the electronics and IT sectors.