CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – The Clark Development Corp. (CDC) expects this freeport to exceed its $1.077-billion export performance last year, as it noted that in the first quarter of this year alone, 83 investors have already exported over $355 million worth of various products.
This, even as employment here has also been noted to have reached its highest peak at 50,184 workers since the Americans left this former US air force base in 1991.
In a report to CDC president Liberato Laus, CDC enterprise operations and monitoring department manager Nunila Laluces noted “the possibility that the $1.077-billion volume export reported in 2006 could be surpassed should export trend continues in the second semester of this year.”
Laluces reported that Nanox Philippines Inc. has remained Clark’s top exporter in the first semester with a total export volume of $198.2 million.
She also said that Yokohama Tire Phils. Inc. placed second with exports worth $67.8 million in the same period. She identified the other big exporters as Smart Shirts with $16.7 million; Crismina with $8.9 million; L&K Industries, $6.6 million; SMK electronics, $6 million; Golden Stone garments, $4.6 million; L&T Philippines, $2.8 million; House of old Jewelry Manufacturing, $1.7 million; and Peninsula Fashion International Corp., $1.3 million.
At the same time, employment records of the CDC indicated that since, investors here have already provided jobs with a cumulative total of 170,128.
CDC statistics indicates that since 2002, Clark has been providing more jobs to local folk than the average yearly 24,000 Filipino workers maintained by the Americans before they left Clark in 1991. In 2002, employment here was estimated at 26,307.
Latest CDC statistics also showed that most of the employment beneficiaries are from neighboring Angeles City and Mabalacat whose residents comprise 22 percent each of the total people employed here. This is apart from 28 percent more employed workers from other Pampanga towns.
Twelve percent of the workers are from nearby Tarlac province, while 13 percent come from other parts of the country.
CDC records indicated that Clark started as economic zone in 1993 with only 623 workers employed. In 1994, this number jumped to 4,783 with the entry of new investors. By 2000, the number of workers zoomed to 21,964.
From 28,408 workers in 2003, the number of workers here went up to 36,833 in 2005 and further up to 47,481 last year, the highest statistical jump since 1993.
Figures as of last May indicated that industrial investors topped in providing 64.93 percent of the current total employment in this freeport, with tourism estate projects coming in second with 10.09 percent.