A new runway in Bantayan Island

Finally the Provincial Board has given Governor Hilario Davide III the authority to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) to develop the airport in Santa Fe, Bantayan Island. The Board finds the MOA “sufficient in form and substance.” Once signed, the MOA will take effect for 25 years. As stated in Resolution 2575-2018, MCIAA is to develop the airstrip into a “commercial airport.” Frankly speaking the Sante Fe Airport was already approved when then Governor Gwen F. Garcia had it approved with the condition that the property is given to the MCIAA. Unfortunately that property wasn’t given to the MCIAA so it was not really developed further by the MCIAA.

In January 2003, MCIAA, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), and the province of Cebu entered into a tripartite agreement to develop the airport. I was still a director of MCIAA at that time and the agreement expired in January 2013 but was renewable for 10 more years. CAAP then turned over to MCIAA the management and operation of the airport effective January 2018, including the development of buildings, other structures, and parcels of land there.

Pursuant to Republic Act 6958, the charter of MCIAA, the administration, control, supervision, and management of the Mactan Cebu International Airport and other airports, which will be established in Cebu Province, belongs to MCIAA. So there we are once more on the verge of having this airport developed. Right now what’s going on this airport is a skydiving operation in which my son even participated at one time, since he was flying only light planes at that time. So more or less he knows the problems of the runway in Mactan.

Recently Air Juan has been flying to Mactan from the SRP terminal at the South Reclamation Project. But after a few months in operating a seaplane, I don’t know what happened because they pulled out that aircraft. Actually, my wife originally came from Bantayan Island, but then back in those slow days travel to Bantayan Island on my small motorcycle was a one-hour operation. Using a car took an hour and a half as there really was no traffic in all the 110 kilometers to the Port of Hagnaya, in Northern Cebu.

With the advent of tourism, travel to Bantayan has become a dizzying two to three hour bus ride and the worst traffic is when you get to Mandaue City. Truth to tell after you’ve been to Bantayan Island, Boracay is a beach resort you really won’t want to go to because the beaches in Bantayan are far better and cleaner than Boracay before it was shut down.

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With the Boracay issue practically over it shouldn’t mean that any fixing that Boracay needs is over and done with. The Boracay issue has become a national concern and it is high time that the government through Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat should consider looking into next year.

Frankly speaking I did not know that Sec. Berna was in Cebu, where the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 has informed 394 business firms in Region 7 that they are violating the Clean Water Act because they don’t have a wastewater treatment facility. I’m really glad that the EMB looked into this so early after the reopening of Boracay.

Last Saturday, Nov. 9, there were 252 firms that were issued a notice of violation with technical conference, while 142 firms were issued a directive to comply. The EMB 7 also issued a notice of violation to 337 beach resorts.

The bulk of the violators are found in Cebu. The EMB 7, though, refused to name specific areas where they are located, as it awaits a final decision on the matter. Truth to tell, I do not see any reason why the EMB-7 is keeping a tight lip on these estabishments. On the contrary, we in the media should help not only the EMB-7 and DOT to put all the names including their respective violations so the people would know.

When asked why keep quiet about this problem, EMB 7 Director William Cuñado said “We initially invited them for a technical conference wherein they were apprised of the acts constituting the violation. There, they were given the opportunity to present justifications or any documentary evidence to refute our findings.”

EMB 7 Director William Cuñado also said that Department Administrative Order (DAO) 2016-08 provides water quality and general effluent standards, and specifies the parameters that must be observed by various industries. He added that the wastewater of establishments that do not have treatment facilities ends up in the drainage system and eventually flows out to the sea. Cuñado said they have endorsed 13 cases to the Pollution Adjudication Board for violations of the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act between 2016 and 2018.

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