Orchard Road, SINGAPORE — The Philippines’ Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is set to partner with a Singaporean company to develop the Clark Air Base, its chairperson, former Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.
Lorenzana, in a chance interview with Filipino reporters here, confirmed that he is part of the Philippine government delegation that would accompany President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on his state visit.
According to Lorenzana, he has seen the President’s schedule which contained several roundtable meetings that would bolster the country’s trade relations with Singapore.
“Overall, nakita ko na yung schedule ni Presidente. Roundtable discussion yun ng economics and trade relationship natin with Singapore. Mangyayari ‘yan mamayang hapon,” he said.
(Overall, I saw the schedule of the President. There are roundtable discussions concerning our economics and trade relationship with Singapore. That would happen this afternoon.)
“Ako naman, kaya ako nandito, dahil nakikipag-partner tayo sa isang malaking development company ng Singapore, i-develop natin yung Clark Airbase. Yun ang kaya ako nandito,” he added.
(On my part, I’m here because we are partnering with a big development company in Singapore; we would develop our Clark Airbase. That’s the reason why I’m here.)
Lorenzana said that the involvement with the Singaporean company, which he did not name yet, could be in the field of real estate that is being developed within the old Clark Airbase.
He added that they are choosing a Singaporean company as a partner because of the country’s wide experience in developing a well-built and modern metropolis despite space limitations.
“As far as I’m concerned sa BCDA, dahil malaki yung ating real estate na dine-develop diyan sa Clark, about 9,000 hectares, diyan maipasok,” he explained.
(As far as I’m concerned with BCDA, since the real estate projects that we are developing in Clark are big — about 9,000 hectares — we can insert that there.)
“Kasi itong Singapore, malaki yung karanasan na mag-develop ng area na maganda. Katulad ng Singapore, maganda ang pagkakagawa nila rito. Maliit lang na area pero they built a very modern metropolis. ‘Yan ang gusto nating makuha sa kanila, mai-transfer sa atin yung technology tsaka yung knowledge at skills sa pag-develop ng ganitong klaseng magandang achievement,” he added.
(We chose Singapore because it has a broad experience in developing areas properly. Like Singapore, they have built an excellent metropolis within a small space. That’s what we want to happen in Clark; we hope the technology and knowledge and skills needed to develop these kinds of areas can be transferred to us so we can have these achievements.)
Marcos Jr. and members of the First Family are set to visit Singapore from Tuesday to Wednesday, fresh from their visit to Indonesia. Among the Chief Executive’s activities in Singapore is a meeting with the Filipino community in the country this afternoon.
On Wednesday, the President and his wife, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, are expected to be at the Singapore Botanic Garden for a brief ceremony where an orchid will be named after them, as part of tradition and honor bestowed upon visiting Philippine presidents.
The President will then meet with the city-state’s leaders, particularly Singaporean President Halimah Yacob and prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, before sitting down with the business sector for several deals.
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