CDC, PTA ink pact for Clark wakeboarding facility

CLARK FREEPORT,  Philippines  — The Clark Development Corp. (CDC) and the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) signed last Sept. 11 a lease agreement for the development of a wakeboarding facility at the freeport’s “Next Frontier” area.

CDC president Benigno Ricafort and PTA general manager and chief executive officer Mark Lapid signed the memorandum of agreement at the CDC corporate headquarters here.

Ricafort said the PTA will not only build a wakeboarding facility but also a sports tourism complex in a 20-hectare area at the Next Frontier area of the Sacobia Valley.

The CDC president added that the PTA is set to invest a minimum of P50 million for the 25-year lease agreement, which is renewable for another 25 years.

Ricafort said the wakeboarding facility, similar to that in Camarines Sur, is CDC’s anchor project to jumpstart tourism activities at the Next Frontier area.

Lapid, for his part, said the PTA is set to present the design and master development plan, adding that construction work for the roads leading to the area has already started.

He also said construction work for the wakeboarding and sports tourism complex will only take a year and the facility will immediately be opened to the public.

In one of her visits to Clark, President Arroyo lauded the Next Frontier project, citing its positive effects like employment generation “not only for the Aetas but also its contribution to the local and national economy.”

Ricafort said he is optimistic on the speedy completion of the implementing rules and regulations of the joint management agreement (JVA) the CDC signed with the Tribung Ayta and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

He cited the JVA as the prime ingredient of the state-owned firm’s Next Frontier project that aims to develop more than 2,000 hectares of forested area in the Sacobia Valley, the northern portion of the freeport.

According to Ricafort, the Next Frontier project is in consonance with the JMA signed on Dec. 6, 2007 by CDC, NCIP, and leaders of the Tribung Ayta, which has inherent rights over certain areas of the Sacobia Valley under the ancestral domain claims.

The Tribung Ayta is composed of 13 tribes or about 3,000 families from the towns of Bamban, Tarlac and Mabalacat in Pampanga.

“The most important role of the JMA is that it ensures the recognition and promotion of the overall welfare of the Aeta tribes in the area, aside from enabling the CDC to generate investment potentials in tourism, housing, commercial, institutional and light industry projects in the Sacobia Valley through the Next Frontier project,” Ricafort said.