Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Antonio B. Remollo said he is trying to convince both the Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific Air (CebPac) to fl y to Dumaguete City from CIA at least three times a week.
“We are trying to convince them because when I was still here (as CDC president-CEO in 2011) we already studied that feasibility,” he said.
There are a lot of passengers who want to go to Dumaguete from Northern and Central Luzon because they want to avoid Metro Manila, he said.
“In a way, Clark will be the most feasible for any domestic airlines even if you want to go to Davao, they would prefer Clark,” he added.
“With that, you also decongest Metro Manila by making Clark a local hub or even the main hub for both international and domestic flights,” he pointed out.
Clark is critical in decongesting Metro Manila because of its location, he said. “It is really sound to make Clark connect to local airports,” he noted.
Remollo pointed out that the Sibulan Airport in Dumaguete can accommodate the modern airbus.
“Right now, there are fIve flights a day via Manila-Dumaguete. There are also direct flights to Cebu, direct to Davao and direct to Cagayan De Oro and now we are pushing for direct Clark flights,” he told members of the Capampangan in Media, Inc. (CAMI) at the Bale Balita here on Friday during the regular weekly media forum “Balitaan” organized in cooperation with the CDC.
Remollo said tourism destinations also abound in Dumaguete and its nearby areas. He noted that the southern tip of Cebu which includes Santander and Oslob are emerging tourists’ destinations because of the popular “whale shark (Butanding) watching” attraction.
“We just promote Oslob (Cebu) and they go via Dumaguete,” he said. Oslob is easily accessible via a short boat ride from Dumaguete (around 30 minutes) instead of land travel from Cebu City which usually takes around three hours, he added.
The mayor said Cebuanos from the island’s southern tip also go shopping, go to school and even use the hospitals in Dumaguete instead of Cebu City which is farther.
Venue for MICE, sporting events
Remollo said Dumaguete is now capable of hosting meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) and is also a venue for regional sports meets.
He said early next year, some 10,000 will be flocking to Dumaguete to participate in talent competitions like chorus singing, mathematics etc.
Remollo said he signed a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to make Dumaguete City as their regional hub and all of the Visayas for sports like the Batang Pinoy, Philippine National Games and University Games.
He said every month Dumaguete hosts new sports events like the handball competition, which is an Olympic sport, that is set on November.
The mayor said he is also pushing to hosts three to four events of the upcoming Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in 2019. “We are pushing to hosts three to four games like archery, beach volleyball, triathlon and handball,” he said.
Remollo said the Philippine archery team trained in Dumaguete before going to Malaysia. Dumaguete is also the Dragon Boat champion, he pointed out.
On federalism
Remollo said President Duterte’s support remains strong in the Visayas. He said he also supports President Duterte’s push for federalism and is in fact helping the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) as speaker in federalism symposiums in Cebu and Mandawe.
“My concept or the bottom line is that if you give genuine autonomy to the local, we can respond faster and more effi cient with problems,” he said.
“But I have one objection, if Congress will make the Constitution nothing will happen just like the Cory Constitution which was hurriedly done,” he said. The Constitution must last long and so let’s do it right, he added.
Remollo said: “Kung Congress ang gagawa mayroon inherent conflict of interest. How? And federalism supposedly ang power na centralized i-share mo sa local, ma-decentralized. That is the basis of federalism. But with a federal government, the congressmen become irrelevant.”
He said congressmen are relevant in the pork barrel system so if they give that to the local government units they will lose their relevance.
Remollo said the Constitution will be inherently defective if Congress will be the one to convene as a constituent assembly or Con-Ass.
Second, the anti-dynasty law cannot be implemented because the congressmen themselves are members of political dynasties.
Third, congressmen tend to impose their will; they will do anything like what happened to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). They become trigger-happy if their interest is involved. They even meddle in the traffic now, he said.
“Kasalanan mo pag na late ka. Hindi kasalanan ng ibang motorista o yung mang huhuli sa ‘yo,” he said.
“You can see that they are trigger-happy with power because they fail to see the national implications of what they are doing although they are national officials local pa rin ang utak,” he said.
Remollo said “Constitutional Convention or Con-Con is the way to go so that you can control them. They will have many ideas. Why will you trust it to a committee of 25?”
Fifth, congressmen are too busy. They have a lot of unfinished business and the Con-Ass is another burden to them, he said.
So, the process is delayed, he added.
The Con-Con will have no work but to work on the Constitution, he reasoned.
