Honrado made his statement during the Consultative Meeting led by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) for the development of the CIA at the Widus Hotel and Casino here on March 9 where he also said Clark or NAIA “should maximize their network and that the two airports should grow together.”
But PGKM Chair Ruperto Cruz said yesterday Honrado, who is also a member of the board of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), should all the more know what is not happening in Clark which could have pushed him to do more.
“He (Honrado) sits at the CIAC board just to make sure Clark does not develop,” he said.
Cruz noted that Honrado, in his twin capacity as NAIA head and CIAC director, was in the best position to have “maximized Clark when NAIA was faced with difficulties.”
Cruz cited the “chaos at the NAIA during the Christmas situation that resulted to delayed and cancelled flights to the utter disadvantage of the passengers” where Honrado could have “moved some flights to Clark to ease the NAIA congestion.”
“During the papal visit last January, NAIA had to cancel some flights which could have been simply diverted to Clark, as is the case during emergencies at NAIA, had Honrado done his homework,” Cruz noted.
“It was the same case with the APEC ministerial meeting,” he added. Cruz said Honrado could have “wilfully excluded Clark as a solution in the NAIA congestion problem to hide its actual potential (as premier international gateway) from the aviation community.”
“That smacks of sabotage and lends credence to our suspicion of a conspiracy against the development of Clark,” Cruz said.
There is also the issue of not only flights but airline cancellations in Clark, he noted.
“SeaAir is making money with its Caticlan airport flights to Boracay. Why was it cancelled?
The SeaAir charter flight to South Korea was also cancelled. Emirates airlines left Clark after only less than seven months of operation. What happened to Air Asia (Philippines) that left Clark for NAIA?” posited Cruz.
“Why is the air fare to and from the Clark airport costlier as compared to Manila? No OFW in Saudi would take Qatar airlines simply because it costs P12,000 more to land in Clark including a 12-hour layover as compared to NAIA. It is also noticeable that majority of flights in Clark are redeye flights,” he added.
These are clear examples of Honrado, along with the CIAC board and executives doing nothing to push for the full utilization and immediate development of Clark, Cruz said.
“Of course there is no competition between Clark and NAIA because Clark cannot compete with NAIA since all the odds are against Clark and because of his (Honrado) presence at the CIAC board,” he pointed out.
“The CIA is not competing with NAIA. In fact, it is only (DOTC Secretary Joseph) Abaya who wants to close it (NAIA) down,” he said. The PGKM is not supporting moves to close down NAIA,” he added.
But Cruz clarified that the PGKM is against the “twin airport system” being pushed by Honrado et al.
“Twin airport system is not true. They include Clark in the context that they will only rule and dictate on it. That is why we need to support the Clark airport authority filed by Yeng Guaiao in Congress,” he said.
Cruz said Honrado and Victor Jose “Chichos” Luciano, former CIAC president who is now a member of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), are in their present positions to make sure Clark remains stagnant because they are part of the conspiracy not to develop it.
“Opening Clark to its full potential is up to now remains to be seen,” Cruz lamented.
At present, there are eight airlines operating at the CIA including Asiana Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cebu Pacific, Tigerair, Air Asia Berhad, Jin Air and Dragon Air.
