‘Holiday economics’ redux

It was another long weekend that we just had all over the country ending last Monday on National Heroes’ Day as one of the official holidays in our country. During the term of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, she started implementing in 2001 movable holidays (except religious events) that were adjusted to the nearest Monday or Friday to form longer weekends.

Dubbed as “holiday economics,” it was meant to boost domestic tourism and allowing Filipinos more time with their families. In fact, it subsequently became a law in 2007 under Republic Act 9492. However, the “holiday economics” was abandoned a few months after Mrs. Arroyo stepped down from Malacanang Palace in June, 2010.

The “holiday economics” of Mrs. Arroyo came to mind when we were invited last weekend to a tour around Clark Freeport in Angeles City, Pampanga. Organized by the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), we were taken around the Clark Freeport. It was my first time to return to Clark after the lockdown more than two years ago following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in our country.

Along with Metro Manila and in many other parts of the country, Clark and the entire Pampanga province have been under Alert Level-1 since March this year. Our road trip from Paranaque City took us less than two hours to reach Clark, with traffic and brief stopovers included, thanks to Skyway and NLEX.

CDC president Manny Gaerlan and his deputy CDC vice president Dennis Legaspi invited selected editors to a quick preview of the “Smart City” transformation of Clark Freeport soon. It was a reunion of sorts with the top two CDC executives who once worked at Malacanang Palace while us editors invited were still young reporters then. Gaerlan and Legaspi used to work, respectively, as police aide-de-camp of the late president Fidel V. Ramos (FVR), and at the Presidential Management Staff. Thus, both were trained to FVR’s much vaunted “complete staff work” (CSW).

Thus, there will be lots of expectations to the planned “Smart City” for Clark that has stayed for so long a time in the pipeline.

After several administrations, it is finally set to take off from the grounds under the stewardship of these CSW guys in charge of the CDC. The government-owned CDC and the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) inked the “Smart City” memorandum of understanding (MOU) on April 15. A “Smart City” is characterized by the use of predominantly information and communication technologies.

Under this MOU, the LH will build a “Smart City” that will be linked to the Clark International Airport which will also become a logistics hub with infrastructure for tourism, recreation, and aviation maintenance. Through this MOU, a technology sharing with the Korea communications network will be used for the “Smart City.”

We had a walking tour of the newly built Clark International Airport which had a “soft opening” last April this year. It is now known as “CRK” as its international call sign. The Luzon International Premier Airport Development (LIPAD) Corp. – a Tagalog word that roughly means “flight,” is a consortium established to manage the operations and maintenance of CRK.

Upon entry inside the terminal, the first thing that will catch your sight is the high curved ceilings that looked like the Cebu International Airport. This was because it was constructed by the Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure Ltd., the same contractors for the Cebu International Airport terminal. Now under LIPAD management, the CRK has all the modern equipment for “contact-less” departure/arrival for all passengers.

Check-in baggage, boarding passes and even passport immigration departure/arrival check can be done online through computer stations strategically placed around the CRK terminal. But there are still options for those who opt to go through the usual manual procedures done at the airline counters.

While we toured the CRK, we saw the big planes of Qatar Airlines and the Emirates for direct flights from Clark to Dubai. We saw a sprinkling of foreign nationals along with presumably overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and local travellers bound for Dubai. The tour guide informed us that Cebu Pacific will soon move in to CRK.

The CRK is being billed as the “silent airport” because the paging system is installed and targeted to specific areas where the passengers are. So you won’t hear the usual sounds and paging announcements at the airport terminals.

A special lounge for OFWs and an inter-faith “prayer” room are provided at the terminal for passengers waiting for their flights.

The entire CRK facility is divided for now into international and domestic flights because the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (named after the late president and father of Mrs.Arroyo) was shut down already. As projected, the CRK terminal can accommodate up to eight million passengers per year, nearly double the 4.2 million capacity of the existing terminal.

There are several top-rated hotels and other lodging establishments at the Freeport that offer “staycation” packages to keep expenses within the family budget. Among the attraction sites for family “staycation” include the newly opened Clark Safari and Adventure Park, and the renovated AquaPlanet. There are quite a number casinos and a golf course that cater to adult entertainment also at the Freeport area.

The main attraction of our tour around Clark though was the taste tests we did for the “Steak Crawl” around the hotels and restaurants. Promoting Pampanga as the “culinary capital of the country, we were treated to four of the 21 of the steaks restaurants inside the bustling Clark Freeport. From Angus steak to wagyu, side dishes created fusion with local Pampanga menu. The “Steak Crawl” will be officially launched in October this year.

As incumbent Congresswoman from Pampanga and is currently the “Senior Deputy Speaker” of the 19th Congress, perhaps Mrs. Arroyo could rally revival of the “holiday economics.” Adversely affected by the pandemic, such can help reboot the country’s tourism out of doldrums.