Payumo named BCDA chief

MANILA, Philippines -  President Aquino has appointed former Bataan congressman and former chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Felicito Payumo as head of the state-run Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), Palace officials confirmed yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda and his deputy Abigail Valte confirmed that Payumo, a partymate of President Aquino in the Liberal Party, was appointed to the government agency tasked with converting former American military bases into economic zones.

Payumo took his oath of office before Aquino yesterday. Payumo will replace BCDA chairman Aloysius Santos.

Under its charter (RA 7227), the BCDA is mandated to convert former US military bases and Metro Manila military camps into productive civilian economic growth centers that would generate business opportunities, jobs and economic activities.

Its mandate is the balanced conversion of the Clark and Subic military reservations and their extensions – namely Camp John Hay in Baguio City, Wallace Air Station in La Union and O’Donnell Transmitter Station in Tarlac - into “productive civilian use.”

Former President Joseph Estrada appointed Payumo as SBMA chairman in 1998 after he removed Richard Gordon, who later became a senator.