WHAT'S WITH THE BURST OF FRESH CONSTRUCTION ON CORREGIDOR?
Jul 20, 2022 9:11:12 GMT 8
chadhill likes this
Post by EXO on Jul 20, 2022 9:11:12 GMT 8
Karl's made a number of excellent posts of what has caught his attention around Corregidor lately. His images are all worthy of closer inspection, rather than just a cursory look. They caught my attention too. If you DO have a close look, maybe you will start asking yourself what's with this burst of fresh construction on Corregidor? Why a road to Officers Beach? What aircraft are they expecting to land at a remade Kindley Field?
The construction sign boards may tell us who the commissioning contractor is, who the subcontractor is, and how much the contract price is - and not much as to purpose. What part of the "why" it might be, well, that's not available.
This being the Philippines, it's possible that a contracting department does not even tell CFI what it's up to. So I am prepared to give CFI the benefit of the doubt there, they may have no idea.
But that raises MORE questions of the "what do the guiding minds have in mind?" style. Unfortunately, from the bleachers, we don't know who are the guiding minds behind these. And that matters!
The express purposes of Corregidor Foundation Inc. are not just to govern and maintain Corregidor, but also to promote tourism on Corregidor. The purpose of CFI is not to promote tourism to the Philippines generally, except as incidental to promoting tourism on Corregidor. CFI does not OWN Corregidor, they just govern and maintain. I am not aware of the capacity in which they do. It might be, at one end of the spectrum, they are just managers. I prefer to place them at the other end of the spectrum, namely that they are Trustees of trust property. This dates back to 1954, when in furtherance of Pres. Magsaysay's gazetted Executive Order of August 16, 1954 ("DECLARING CORREGIDOR AND BATAAN NATIONAL SHRINES, OPENING THEM TO THE PUBLIC AND MAKING THEM ACCESSIBLE AS TOURIST ATTRACTIONS AND SCENES OF POPULAR PILGRIMAGES, AND CREATING A COMMISSION FOR THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE") Corregidor was given into the ownership of the Department of Defense. At a later time, the DoD conferred authority on CFI to "govern and maintain."
It seems that somewhere along the years, the marketing of Corregidor seemed to change from marketing historical tourism, to marketing real estate. I think the rot set in around then, when notable Manila Architects started drawing images of up-market elite condos on South Beach. I can't recall the exact date of the drawings, but it seemed to me that it was about the same time that there were drawings released of a beautifully designed bridge to be built between Bataan and Cavite, with an off-ramp to Corregidor. The proposed funders were from the source of all things wondrous and strange, China. Chinese loans, at the beneficence of the great and good Chinese Communist Party, as it then was.
This is not a post about whether the bridge will be built or not, but my view of the change in geopolitics is such that I'd suggest it won't be. (If the CCP make a move against Taiwan, I would expect that the Philippines will be constrained to sever CCP-financed projects. Say what you like about Japan but I can't see Japan financing a road to Corregidor, an island as sacred to their war dead as it is to us, but for different reasons of course.) Hopefully, that will discourage any cadre of big-talk brokers trying to position themselves to market projects to the elite. So maybe we'll not have to factor in whether the road leading to Officers Beach is being built to open it for swimming, or to the building of a few villas.
To those who want to swim at Corregidor, I have two words. Fecal Count.
I really should apologise for taking you on this walk through conjecture, because the answer to the questions being asked is that there is insufficient information to answer any of them. We don't know who the guiding minds are behind these road-building projects, and the rebuilding of Kindley Field's airstrip. Transparency is not the way things are done here, the decisions are made behind closed doors, without input of stakeholders.
THE CORREGIDOR CURSE
Some time ago, someone asked me if I really thought there was a curse about development in the 92nd Garage area. (Build a resort over the site of a WWII Prison Camp? Build a Casino? Oh, come now!) In the years I've known Corregidor, every commercial venture on the island, not just those at 92nd Garage, has ended in failure. (If that's not a curse against ALL commercial ventures on Corregidor, then what is?)
Those with the guiding minds need to factor into account that there is nothing inglorious about historical tourism, nor anything inconsistent between marketing the island as a desirable pristine environmental destination an hour from Manila and that historical tourism. Lets preach respect for the history of Corregidor and respect for the environment of Corregidor. It should be environmental consultancies coming to the island, working out how to turn it into a World Heritage Area.