CLARK FREEPORT – Central Luzon’s Regional Development Council (RDC) has vowed to thwart any move that could derail the 1994-vintage plan to transform the Clark International Airport (CIA) into the country’s premiere international gateway even under a so-called twin-airport system.
“The proposed development of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as well as the idea of a new airport in Sangley point in Cavite would not stop the RDC from urging the national government to make CIA as the key international passenger gateway,” said RDC Chair and outgoing City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, who won in the last election’s congressional race in Pampanga’s third district.
He vowed to work for this during the Aquino administration, even as he nodded to proposals for CIA to be considered twin international gateway with the NAIA.
Rodriguez said he and other Central Luzon RDC officials would attend the meetings of the RDC’s in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, and Cordillera to seek their support for the proposal.
The plan to make the CIA the country’s premier international gateway dated back to 1994 when then Pres. Ramos issued Execute Order No. 174 declaring Clark as precisely that.
The EO noted that “the development of Clark Aviation Complex as a new international gateway to the Philippines, together with its accompanying expressway and mass-transit rail access systems will attract economic and tourism activities towards Central Luzon and the North Luzon Growth Quadrangle, thereby relieving Metro Manila of further increase in migration, congestion, pollution, traffic and other urban ills.”
A study once made by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) noted Clark as the most ideal site for an international airport on the basis of geographical and topographical considerations.
Clark, once a US Air Force military base, now has two runways running 3.2 kilometers each and can accommodate the largest commercial and cargo aircraft.
The study also noted that Sangley Point in Cavite, which some sectors have cited as possible location for a new international airport to ease NAIA, was not as ideal as Clark and that it would take huge cost to reclaim lands needed for an international gateway.
