CLARK FREEPORT ZONE — An executive of the Clark International Airport Corp. said recently that the government-run aviation firm remains financially strong in spite of the privatized Clark International Airport that it was able to remit P203 million as dividends to the national government.
CIAC President Arrey Perez said the CIAC remitted a total of P202,905,691.45 on April 30, 2024 as dividends from its operations in 2023 to the Bureau of Treasury.
“The agency’s 2023 remittance is 12 percent higher than the agency’s 2022 remittance, which was P180.4 million,” Perez noted.
He recalled that in 2018 when airport operations and management were still under the CIAC, the agency was able to pay dividends amounting to P156.7 million.
“Our remittance dwindled to Php95 million in 2020 after the airport was privatized, but this year’s amount of P203 million remitted to the national treasury, so far, is the CIAC’s biggest dividends share,” he added.
The CIAC chief attributed the increase in revenues to the corporation’s “fiscal discipline, a dynamic finance team which made us a debt-free and financially healthy government corporation, the efficient collection from the leases of locators at the Clark civil aviation complex, and the entry of new investments”, as reasons for the agency’s strong financial standing.
The Clark International Airport is currently being operated by the Luzon International Premier Airport Development Corp. (LIPAD), a consortium with a 25-year operations and management concession agreement with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) signed in 2019.
The BCDA is the parent company of the CIAC while airport operations are under the supervision of the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
Perez said CIAC has consistently adhered to Republic Act (RA) No. 7656 or the Dividend Law by declaring and remitting the required cash dividends to the national government.
The accomplishment was also highlighted last May 6 during the Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCC) Day at the Philippine International Convention Center where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. honored the GOCCs for their invaluable contributions “not only to the nation’s coffers, but also to the continued progress of the Philippines as envisioned under a ‘Bagong Pilipinas’.”
Perez also said the agency has embarked on bold moves to increase its remittances to the national government with the implementation of the ‘Seven Flagship Projects’ that will establish the Clark Airport City and transform Clark as “the premier global civil aviation logistics hub of the Philippines.”
The carefully-planned infrastructure projects include the Clark National Food Terminal, the CRK Direct Access Link, the Clark Entertainment and Events Center, the Urban Renewal and Heritage Conservation Program, the Expansion and Upgrading of Utilities, the Detailed Site Development Plan for the Second Runway for the Clark International Airport (CRK), and the new CIAC headquarters.
“These game-changing projects are intended to improve the business climate in Clark, attract more foreign investments that in turn will redound to an increase in CIAC’s contributions to the national government to fund its development projects,” Perez stressed. (UnliNews Online)
