CLARK FREEPORT – It’s official, the flight from the anti-drug campaign to the aviation industry for Aaron Aquino.
The board of directors of the Clark International Airport Corp. elected on Friday former national anti-drug czar Aquino as president and chief executive officer.
Aquino, earlier named by President Duterte to head CIAC was elected in a board meeting held via video conference, in keeping with protocols banning physical meetings amid the community quarantine.
Comprising the CIAC board are Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade as chair, Bases Conversion and Development Authority president-CEO Vince Dizon as vice chair, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippine director general Capt. Jim Sydiongco, and six others as members.
Aquino, former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general, is reported to have been stranded in Davao City and is expected to report for work on June 10.
Outgoing CIAC officer-in-charge Joshua Bingcang has called Aquino’s new job as a “positive step towards further strengthening the agency’s capacity to develop the civil aviation complex.”
Bingcang returns to his post as BCDA senior vice president for business development.
While CIAC is a subsidiary of the BCDA, it is the Department of Transportation that exercises policy and operational control over the agency.
CIAC officially ceded in August last year the operation and management of the Clark International Airport (CRK) to the Luzon International Premier Airport Development Corp., a consortium composed of Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc, Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions Inc, and Changi Airports Philippines (I) Pt. Ltd.
Last March 10, the DOTr reported that the new CRK terminal building was 97.81 percent complete. It was slated to start operations by the last quarter of the year.
