Mcia: The key to Cebu's future economic growh

First of all, allow me to greet a very happy birthday to our good friend Mr. Francisco "Kito" Unchuan on his nth birthday today. Kito and I have one of the longest standing friendships that date back to our school years, though we were not classmates. I guess that's because we all lived in Mango Ave. at that time. He is the father of Anya Unchuan who is my Talkshow host for the only Pet Show in the Philippines "My Pet's" on MyTV channel 30. So many happy returns of the day and May God always bless you!

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Well, at last well-meaning Cebuanos found their tongue when after two weeks of writing my opposition to the terminal fee increase after that zarzuela called a public hearing on the proposal to increase terminal fees was conducted by the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority. Indeed, as MCIAA insiders tell me that they had no choice but do the wishes of the Department of Transportation and Communications  to increase terminal fees. This is Imperial Manila imposing their will over us Cebuanos!

How times have changed since the early 1990's when then former Senator John "Sonny" Osmeña and Rep. Raul del Mar created the MCIAA and the Cebu Port Authority which they envisioned to be run by Cebuanos for Cebuanos. I was privileged to be one of the longest private sector directors in MCIAA and ended my term when the Aquino Regime took over.

Since then, I gathered that meetings at the MCIAA are no longer held here in Cebu but at the DOTC offices in Manila. In the short and long of it, Imperial Manila through the DOTC has reclaimed what was originally under their full control when it was called the Bureau of Air Transport (BAT). I guess it's pretty much the same at the CPA. In my book, this is a violation of the spirit behind the enactment of the special laws that created the MCIAA and the CPA under then Pres. Cory Aquino.

During my stint at the MCIAA, I've always batted for a second runway because this guarantees the future of Cebu's economic growth, especially with our tourism sector. This is why I'm happy that Ms. Alice Queblatin of the Cebu Association of Tour Operators   has come out in the open to support our move to keep the money that the GMR/Megawide paid for its 25-year lease. This is not to mention that if an aircraft stalls in the runway, you do not need to stop airport operations.

But in fairness to the MCIAA, we never had the money to build that second runway. Yes, the DOTC always had two excuses whenever the issue of the second runway came up…that we didn't need a second runway yet and that we didn't have the money for that runway. We'll, finally we have P14.4 billion to build that second runway, and if Cebu's civic and political leaders get their acts together, we can finally look forward to a better future for MCIA especially under the GMR/Megawide management.

At least my good friend, Councilor Nestor Archival has started the ball rolling in the City of Cebu. If you ask me, this issue should be a non-partisan issue and we're waiting for the Province of Cebu and all the component cities to make a stand to keep the P14.4 billion here and use it for the second runway. So if you ask…why do we need a second runway? Let me tell you the story of Hong Kong as it is our best example. Mind you, I've already written this story so many times, but for the sake of emphasis, I will tell it to you again so you folks will be reminded of what they did in Hong Kong.

Sometime in the mid-1990's the Hong Kong government leveled the small island of Chep Lap Kok and the smaller island of Lam Chau and created a 4.82 square mile island where it built the Hong Kong International Airport. Before this airport was built, air operation in Hong Kong was done at the Kai Tak International Airport, which was considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world as at the end of the runway is the mountains of Kowloon. Kai Tak Airport then jutted out into the sea.

A single runway restricted the tourism industry of Hong Kong as you can get the statistics as to how many planes can land in a 24-hour period and multiply it by 365 days and you will get more or less the exact number of visitors to Hong Kong. Mind you, all aircraft landing at Kai Tak allotted the same landing time, whether it is a huge Boeing 747 with 350 passengers or a private jet that carries only 4 passengers.

When Hong Kong was using Kai-Tak International Airport, it only had 6 million tourists per year. When air operation was transferred to the new Chep Lap Kok or Hong Kong International Airport, tourism numbers more than doubled to 15 million annually. With GMR/Megawide handling the MCI in the next 25 years, we expect more flights coming to Cebu as Louie Ferrer of Megawide said, "People from Manila might just decide to land in Mactan from abroad and get a connecting flight to Manila so they could enjoy the new Mactan Cebu International Airport." Need I say more?