Cayetano, Alan: Senate Bill No. 2647 under Committee Report No. 250
September 11, 2024
Senate Bill No. 2647 under Committee Report No. 250
AN ACT STRENGTHENING THE BASES CONVERSION AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7227, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS "THE BASES CONVERSION AND DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1992", AS AMENDED
Sponsors: Sen. Alan Peter S. Cayetano/ Sen. Mark A. Villar
For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. 'Yan po ang nasa Jeremiah 29:11 at yan po ay isang propetang pinaniniwalaan ng mga Muslim, Hudyo at ng Kristiyano. I like Mister President narrating, explaining, declaring that verse. Because it tells us that the Almighty has a plan. But more than that, it teaches us that there can be no plan without a vision.
Quite a long time ago the Americans came to the Philippines and we have to give it to them and to their military. Marunong silang pumili ng pu-puwestuhan ng kanilang mga facilities. Whether we talk about Fort McKinley na naging Fort Bonifacio sa Taguig. Whether you talk about the air base in Pasay, whether you talk about Clark, Subic, you talk about Baguio City or La Union or even the areas in Visayas and Mindanao, marunong pumili po ang mga Amerikano. These areas once thought about to be purely for military defense security purposes found a win-win during the time of a military officer who became president, President Ramos.
It's been particularly special to the City of Taguig because the development of Fort Bonifacio sparked a new central business district. Nagbigay po ito ng venue para sa vision ng Panginoon sa aming city. Before the pandemic, there was a twin focus by the Duterte administration which was to clean up Boracay and also develop Clark so that we can decongest Metro Manila. Halos lahat po ng leaders from Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Central Luzon supported that. Katabi ko po si former Majority Leader Joel Villanueva. He was very supportive of that.
Mister President, ang naging decision ng dating pangulo ay huwag payagan magbenta ng lupa sa loob ng Clark. I saw the logic personally as his running mate, as a senator and even as a DFA secretary. During that time, I told him that there were many ways to skin a cat. I pointed at Pasig, Rizal and the Ortigas family. As you know y'ung Kapitolyo used to be in Pasig. And for the longest time I stalemate between the people who donated the land and between the city and the province. But one-time wisdom upon them nagkaroon ng agreement na isasauli y'ung part ng lupa sa pamilyang nag-donate. But part of it, ide-develop and then part of it cash for school buildings. And then ire-redo or ibi-build yung sa fiscals' office. So nagkaroon ng win-win.
In fact ang topic namin ni President Duterte noon, we were also looking at Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo. In the meantime, and ah although for another bill nandito yung former chairman ng BCDA Vince Dizon. He supported President Duterte na huwag magbenta ng lupa sa loob. At that time, former chairman of BCDA Chairman Delfin Lorenzana was our DND and he really fought tooth and nail for more representation and better benefits for the military from the BCDA since sa kanila na mangaling po yung lupa.
I was arguing with them that ang problema niyo pag hindi kayo nag benta sa loob at napakalaki ng Clark, sa labas ng Clark mamimili ang ating mga malalaking kumpanya sa real estate. And as we've seen 'yong kanilang mga township 'no? I will not name all of them but 'yong ating biggest real estate companies in the country are you know have step up in the kind of development.
Bottom line po, tama ang naging prediksyon iilan lang ang nag-develop sa loob ng Clark na 25-25 years. Pero namili sa ilabas and even though magaganda ang development ngayon sa labas ng Clark, the reality is nag-ta-traffic na rin. So there is a consensus move to do this and then nadagdagan pa po ng pinasa nong Kongreso yung pagkaroon ng Special Economic Zone sa Bulacan at bagong airport.
I think most, if not all of us agree that many states in the US have two airports. If I'm not mistaken New York has two airports, I think Washington has two airports. So if we develop Bulacan and Clark correctly, it could really be a twin engine of development in our country and it could really pull the density or the massive urbanization out of Metro Manila and really spur development in Central Luzon. So hindi po ako magpapakahaba, but I'd like to thank Senator Estrada and Senator Tolentino who are actually the authors of this bill. I'd like to thank the new chairman of the Committee on Government Corporations Senator Mark Villar not only for supporting, agreeing but because lumaki po siya sa negosyo. I think his masteral is also in business right? So you know I'm confident that not only his co-stewardship of this bill, but his insights especially pagdating natin ng period of amendment would prepare Clark 'no? To be a real development engine.
I'd like to see the day na hindi lang sinasabi sa Pilipinas para kayong Hong Kong, Singapore. I'd like to see the day that every island like Palawan, Romblon, of course Cebu is highly developed, Iloilo is highly developed getting there. But imagine if every single island we have of that size 'no? Palawan, Romblon, Cebu, Bohol, Iloilo are separate from Hong Kong and Singapore. And imagine if every region of the country is just like the United States na iba ang LA sa Chicago, iba ang Chicago sa New York, iba ang New York sa Washington DC. And it is this kind of development that's what we need.
While I will ask that you permit that the explanatory notes of Senator Estrada and Tolentino to form part of the sponsorship speech, I'd also like to mention another pet bill advocacy that I hope Senator Mark and I can work together on. My first privilege speech in 1998 as the youngest member of the 11th Congress and Senator Escudero, if I'm not mistaken, was the second youngest noon, Our Senate President. My first speech was about LLDA. Laguna Lake Development Authority, ang sabi ko po n'on. I see the Laguna Lake. I see the authority, nasan ang development. Sadly, many many years later, decades later, I could give the same speech now. I see the Laguna Lake, I see the authority, pero hindi pa rin nagde-develop and that's another matter we'll take up during the DENR budget. But iba po sa BCDA, I see the bases, I see the conversion, I see the authority but I do see the development. This bill will actually enhance the powers of the BCDA. And I hope Mister President we can come up with some corporate entity that is partly government, partly private to actually develop the Laguna Lake but also to develop indigenous, the lands, the ancestral lands of the indigenous people of the Philippines. Kasi sayang. Sayang po. We call it. We name it, pero walang nangyari. So Executive Vice President Gisela Kalalo is also here with us. The staff and the rest of the BCDA family, alam kong pabalik balik kayo and you're waiting for this. It's in good hands with Senator Mark Villar and hopefully po we will come up with even a better bill with his insights in how to make it more business friendly and a new center of commerce development housing and just you know just a perfect environmentally friendly community in Central Luzon for some they're even hoping that this will be the new government center. Thank you for this opportunity Mister Majority Leader, Minority Leader and to Senate President.
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
