Why not let SM build the new airport first?

For tonight’s presentation on Straight from the Sky, we talk about the state of the tourism industry in our country today. A few months ago, the highly-controversial Tourism Secretary Alberto “Bertie” Lim who dared refuse or recognize the Tourism Congress, which was created by law, suddenly lost favor in the Aquino administration and was replaced by the new Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez who recently came to Cebu for a short visit and meeting with the stakeholders.

 To discuss issues pertaining to the tourism industry, we have with us again Mr. Robert “Bobby” Joseph who was in the forefront in the move to ouster the previous tourism secretary whom he accused of lobbying for the foreign airlines, rather than helping our domestic carriers. This is why under his watch, Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III signed the Open Skies policy for the Philippines, a policy that remains inert because no one has come forward to take advantage of this government policy. So watch Mr. Bobby Joseph tonight on SkyCable’s Channel 15 at 8:00pm tonight.

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 Last week, we heard over many popular radio talk shows pundits discussing the suggestion by Cebu City South District Congressman Tomas Osmeña to transfer the location of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) a few kilometers to the south in the Municipality of Cordova. I really didn’t want to comment on this issue anymore because we have already written our piece that this idea is nonsense because of the enormous cost it entails.

 However, a lot of our friends told us that I should comment on this because this proposal has entered a new dimension. Indeed, the difference today is that Rep. Tomas Osmeña somehow managed to convince (those naughty pundits are saying there’s a million reasons for his announcing this proposal by SM Prime Holdings, Inc. who showed its willingness through a letter to purchase the old 300-hectare MCIA property. If you ask me, this is not yet an unsolicited proposal. I’m sure it is easy enough for Rep. Tomas to ask for a letter of interest for the MCIA property so that people would no longer ridicule him on the feasibility of that move.

 First of all, the MCIA is a government property, hence it must be bided, unless SM Prime Holdings really makes an unsolicited offer, then things could get serious. But if Rep. Osmeña and SM Prime Holdings are thinking of purchasing the MCIA property, I think they would meet stiff resistance here. First of all, where will Rep. Tomas find the money first to reclaim Cordova and then construct a new runway and terminal building? If he thinks we will allow him to move the airport just because SM Prime is showing interest in the property, he ought to think again.

 Honestly, I should dismiss this new proposal like the way I dismissed his previous proposal as nonsense. But this time, I will give credence to Rep. Osmeña’s proposal by making a suggestion. If SM Prime Holdings, Inc. is truly interested in getting the property of the MCIA, we must first ensure that the Philippine government should benefit and not lose from this proposal and not spend for infrastructure it can hardly afford.

 I dare say, let SM Prime Holdings do the reclamation of the low areas of Cordova and then put in two new very long runways and a modern terminal there, then turnover the entire facility to MCIAA, who in turn would transfer the ownership of the property to SM Prime Holdings, Inc. This way, the national government wouldn’t have to spend a single centavo for this project and it would be what they call a “win-win” land deal. I’d really like to hear how SM Prime Holdings officials would react to this suggestion. This is my way of telling them, “Put your money where your mouth is!”

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 In another controversial project called “Ciudad Project” of the Fifth Avenue Property Development Corp., we gathered that there was a public hearing on this last Friday conducted by the Environmental Impact Assessment Office (EIAO) of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) with no less than Rep. Tomas Osmeña, the stumbling block to this project, who questioned the credibility of the developers. Wait a minute! When did that come about? The reason why the former Mayor blocked this project was that the traffic in the Banilad-Talamban area would worsen.

 But apparently the developers have proven in their studies and their drawings that traffic would in fact ease because they would be opening new roads into the Banilad-Talamban area. Somehow, CITOM and the Planning Office of Cebu City haven’t done their studies yet. I hope Rep. Osmeña knows that many Cebuanos are turned-off by his domineering attitude, which is not the attitude of a public servant, but that of an arrogant ruler.

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