ANGELES CITY — “The imperial dragon breathed fire on Clark, to burn down all its potentials as the Philippines’ premier international gateway.”
Thus said the broad-based advocacy group Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) in reaction to what it called the “denigration” cast by Philippine Airlines president Ramon S. Ang against the Clark International Airport.
This, even as the broad-based advocacy group called on the government “to remain steadfast to the development of the Clark airport, if only to actualize its potentials for the development in turn of Central and Northern Luzon.”
Media last week reported Ang as saying the government’s plan to turn Clark into the country’s premier gateway “might be ill-advised” due to its distance from Manila.
“If you want to fly [from] Clark, how long will it take you to get to the airport? Two hours if you are coming from Makati. Then you have to wait two more hours for your flight.” So was Ang quoted in the media.
Ang added that plans to build a new high-speed railway between Metro Manila and Clark, which he estimated to cost some $10 billion, would be too much for the government to bear.
“Ang disparaged Clark to rationalize PAL’s plan to build its own airport,” PGKM chair Ruperto Cruz said. “We can only sense sabotage there.”
Cruz said the distance between Clark and Manila “is never an issue against the feasibility of Clark as premier gateway, it even follows the worldwide trend of building international gateways outside the capitals.”
Travel time, he said, between Clark and Balintawak, the entrance to Metro Manila, is only 45 minutes via the North Luzon Expressway, “much faster than Chek Lap Kok to Hong Kong and Suvarnabhumi to Bangkok.”
Traffic
“The traffic between Balintawak to Makati and onto the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is precisely what makes Clark as the ideal gateway, traffic being smooth all the way. It takes far lesser time to travel from Quezon City, the Camanava areas and the northern half of Manila to Clark than to NAIA,” Cruz said.
The railway component of Clark as premier gateway, Cruz noted, “could come with the bidding for its development.”
It has been reported that business mogul Manny V. Pangilinan has expressed his interest in developing the Clark International Airport with a high-speed railway component to be located at the side of the North Luzon Expressway which is also managed and operated by Pangilinan’s group.
Ang told media that the airport they plan to build would cost some $500 million in equity from PAL with the rest of the project cost to be financed with loans from foreign or local banks.
While he declined to disclose the prospective location for the airport, Ang said it would need at least 2,000 hectares of land. would be situated 15 minutes away from the Ayala business center in Makati City.
“The area exists already. It will be much closer to Manila and it is a very good site,” Ang said, adding it is 15 minutes away from the Ayala business center in Makati City.
“We could just imagine the environmental degradation the PAL airport’s construction would cause,” Cruz said, “given the build-up areas within a ten-mile radius around Makati.”
Metro Manila media sources have pointed to Binangonan, Rizal as possible site of PAL’s airport where “a little over 2,000 hectares” obtained. It is reported to belong to one IRC Properties Inc.
“Already bursting to the seams, Metro Manila will further suffer congestion with this planned airport of PAL,” he added, renewing his calls to “de-imperialize, decongest Manila.”
Another site being speculated for the PAL airport is the 2,000 hectare property of San Miguel Corp. in San Jose City, Bulacan. Ang is president of SMC.
An airport source however raised concerns on the location.
“What good is a runway if most of the year, the airport is drenched with rain, has poor visibility, adjacent to mountains or man-made obstacles?
What if airplanes are buffeted by strong crosswind during landing and takeoff?” So Business Mirror quoted the source as saying, in reference to the San Jose City site.
Clark is best
Since 1992, the PGKM has been advocating for the development of the Clark International Airport as the Philippines’ premier international gateway, citing its ideal location of high elevation and expanse of 2,500 hectares, its equidistance to regional capitals, its parallel runways that accommodated the biggest military aircraft in the world, the C-5 Galaxy at the time of the American forces, as well as the biggest commercial aircraft, the Airbus A-380.
Clark being the premier international gateway will help “tremendously” in the decongestion of Metro Manila, the PGKM said, and “lead to the dispersal of economic opportunities to the countrysides.”
“We understand that PAL’s desire to build its own airport is well within the ambit of free enterprise, but to sabotage Clark to serve that purpose is totally uncalled for,” Cruz said.
