CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines — Officials of the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) reveled Thursday that millions of pesos in savings has been the result of the Subic-Clark interconnection of communication lines.

CDC Public Media Relations Department Manager Angelo “Sonny” Lopez Jr. said the interconnection of Clark and Subic freeports is a big boost to the country’s premier sea and air transport and trade system.

The interconnection between the two Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations’ (GOCC’s) telephone lines is saving millions of pesos in long distance telephone charge by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Lopez said.

He said stakeholders inside the Clark and Subic freeports can now easily access or transact business directly without hesitation due to communications charges.

PLDT Clark Manager Lito Mercado said both Clark and Subic telephone lines are now interconnected, allowing hundreds of firms operating inside Clark and Subic to call one another without the usual long distance charges.

The PLDT Clark-Subic interconnection is an offshoot of an award-winning project launched by the influential Metro Clark Advisory Council (MCAC), Mercado said.

“The interconnection project of the MCAC has paved the way for investors and locators to save millions of pesos in long distance charges. We are happy to announce that a toll charge between the two Freeports is now a thing of the past,” he said.

It could be recalled that in 2001, the MCAC formed a committee dubbed “Task Force Interconnection,” headed Lopez, who is known as a veteran radio and TV broadcaster.

The task force laid the groundwork for the interconnection of telephone lines of PLDT, Smart Telecommunications (Smart), and Digitel to provide toll free calls to its subscribers inside the Clark Freeport and the rest of the province of Pampanga, including Angeles City.

The project was successfully launched in 2002, the Clark Freeport has been saving at least P1.2 million per year in long distance charges, Lopez said.

The PLDT subscribers inside Clark and residents from the periphery of the Freeport have been enjoying toll-free calls since 2002, he added.