P-Noy: Exercising fiscal prudence

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was in Tagbilaran, Bohol last Tuesday to preside over the turnover of the leadership of the Regional Peace and Order Council-7 (RPOC-7) from Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia to Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto. It was P-Noy’s first official visit to Bohol as President. Under Gov. Garcia’s six-year stint as RPOC chairperson, Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor became “insurgency-free,” so now all that Gov. Chatto needs to do is concentrate on Negros Oriental in order to make Central Visayas totally free from the communist insurgency.

Just two days before President P-Noy’s visit to Bohol, we were on Panglao Island for the opening of the Bluewater Panglao Beach Resort and in his speech, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Alberto Lim talked about the upcoming construction of the Panglao International Airport, which had been planned and approved for many years, but was never funded. Well, we thought that since the DOT Secretary mentioned it to the guests, then this project would now be funded under the Aquino administration.

Lo and behold, last Tuesday during a meeting with Bohol officials and civil society leaders, President P-Noy clearly stated that he wasn’t keen on proceeding with the construction of the Panglao Airport because he believed that expanding the Tagbilaran Airport would be the more cost-effective thing to do. There you go, President P-Noy just dashed the hopes of Boholanos to have their own international airport. But let me tell you that the President is right on the nose on this one because we should be prudent in spending public funds.

Too much public money has been spent, for instance, on beautiful but expensive airports in Bacolod City and Iloilo City, which are under-used. Hence, there really is no return-on-investment for these facilities as far as the government is concerned. No doubt, a lot of people who’ve already heard about this project and purchased a lot of land around where the airport would have been constructed are now left with the empty bag. Secondly, it is not an environmentally sound idea to have an airport too close to the beautiful beaches of Panglao because of noise abatement issues.

But what’s even more revealing to us is that just two days earlier, the DOT secretary told the guests in Panglao that the building of the airport there was all systems go, but two days later, the President himself said he was not in favor of constructing this facility. Doesn’t this issue give you a hint that the DOT secretary doesn’t even know what’s going on in his own turf?

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Talking about airports, I just got an e-mailed letter from Danilo Francia, former general manager of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) who is currently an undersecretary of national defense. Here’s his letter:

“Bobit, When I was still in Cebu, I was one of those surprised to know that not a single airport in the Philippines is certified by the CAAP (ATO then). And this was one of the reasons why FAA caused the Philippines to be downgraded to Category 2. We then organized and, with the help of ICAO reps and CAAP, planned to satisfy the requirements needed so MCIA could be headed toward certification.

“Romy Bersonda and Sam Elle, with CAAP at MCIA, accomplished the mandated Airport Manuals and Safety Management System requirements and prepared to be evaluated by a joint CAAP-ICAO team. After the first evaluation and then satisfaction of major findings, the airport was subjected to a second evaluation. The attached documents are now proof of Mactan Cebu International Airport being the first airport in the Philippines to be certified by our own CAAP. Signed, Danny Francia.”

Thanks, Sir Danny, for this very valuable information that unfortunately I got from you rather than our PR guys in MCIA. It shows you that Usec. Francia’s heart is still in Cebu as I still consider him the “best airport manager” of this country. As I wrote before, his appointment as DND undersecretary is the DND’s gain, while it is MCIAA’s loss.

Still on the MCIA, a week ago, South District Rep. Tomas Osmeña proposed to move the MCIA to the town of Cordova, some eight kilometers south of its present location. He pointed out that he would reclaim 1,100 hectares about a foot underwater to achieve his goal of bringing the airport closer to Cebu City. I scoffed at this plan because too much taxpayer’s money has been invested in MCIA and if he wants to improve the traffic between Cebu City and Mactan, this can be done by putting up flyovers along two major intersections for a fraction of the cost. We should follow the lead of President P-Noy not to unnecessarily waste public funds. Again, our political leadership ought to exercise fiscal prudence.

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