CLARK FREEPORT – The Clark Development Corporation (CDC) and one of the Clark Freeport’s pioneering locators signed recently a $1-million lease agreementin New York City.

With President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as witness, CDC President Liberato P. Laus and Berthaphil founder and chairman Andre Hercz signed the agreement at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

According to Laus, the contract signing further bolsters the vision of the President to transform the Clark Freeport as the next logistics hub of the Asia Pacific Region.

Laus said the lease agreement with Berthaphil will pave the way for the development of a 58-hectare area into a suppliers’ park for Texas Instruments (TI) – one of the leading microchips manufacturer in the world.

He added that Berthaphil has already guaranteed 12 multinational firms, suppliers, and business partners of TI to locate here even while construction work at TI is ongoing.

Laus said the projected investments to be infused by suppliers is about $40 million and exports amounting to $20 million annually generating about 2,000 new jobs once the park is operational.

Berthaphil and other potential business partners, on the other hand, expect projected investments to reach $60 million, creating 3,500 new jobs and generating aggregate exports amounting to $30 million yearly once the park is fully occupied.

Laus said other potential companies of the suppliers' park shall complement the Clark Investment Priority List and Master Plan to increase exports, quality job generation and promoting Clark as the most preferred investment destination in Southeast Asia.

Berthaphil, a local corporation owned by Worldwide Sourcing Ltd. American stockholders from New York, invested in Clark in 1999 to engage in building, developing and marketing industrial and business parks designed to host multi-dimensional business operation from logistics to warehousing, electronic assembly and packing and information technology.

The firm has already infused P750 million for the development of three parks in Clark, and is responsible for creating nearly 5,000 jobs and an average of $20 million exports annually.

The signing was also witnessed by other Philippine government officials, among them Trade Secretary Peter Favila, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo and Pampanga congressmen Mikey Arroyo, Aurelio Gonzales, Jr. and Ana York Bondoc-Sagum.