ANGELES CITY – “A most welcome development. A long dream coming to fulfilment.” Thus said the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement of the government plan to transfer the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to Clark.
Since the immediate post-Pinatubo period, the PGKM, a broad-based multi-sectoral organization has advocated for the full operationalization of the Clark airport as the Philippines’ premier international gateway.
“The aviation industry will soar with Clark as the premier airport, unfettered as it shall be by the vested interests of the Manilacentric imperial dragons,” the PGKM said in a statement. The PGKM has long held the “constriction of NAIA,” with its intersecting single runway as “the greatest argument against its remaining as the premier
airport of the country.
On the other hand, Clark’s parallel “state-ofthe- art” runways and 2,500-hectare aviation complex make the “compelling reason” to make it as the premier international gateway. “It will be most fitting to have NAIA at Clark, and erase the curse sounding ‘damn ‘ya’ (for DMIA) in its official name,” the PGKM said.
Roxas
On Monday, Transportation and Communication Secretary Manuel Roxas II disclosed the planned airport transfer at a Senate hearing. This after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile inquired about updates on the government’s North Rail project and raised the possibility of transferring the international airport to Clark once the project becomes successful.
“It will be beneficial to the country because it will link Central Luzon, specially Clark, with Metro Manila. We can transfer the international airport to Clark and leave the present international airport for further development,” Enrile said.
Roxas said the 440- hectare NAIA, if privatized, would raise up to $2.5 billion in revenue for the government, which “in effect will pave the way for thetransfer of the airport to Clark.” He however stressed that “the key to the transfer is the high speed rail because without that, it really becomes very inconvenient.”
Roxas’ views were shared by the Airline Operators Council at the NAIA who expressed their willingness to transfer to Clark “if the terminals and the high speed transportation like the speed train from Manila to Clark are in place.”
For his part, Clark International Airport Corp. President-CEO Victor Jose Luciano lauded Roxas’ support for the transfer of NAIA to Clark. This, even as he himself disclosed plans of an investor to construct more hangars that could accommodate wide-bodied aircraft at the DMIA complex.
He, however, declined to give details about the project pending the finalization of contracts.
MVP
Last month, Manny V. Pangilinan, in a talk with local mediamen after signing memoranda of understanding with Gov. Lilia G. Pineda on water and power studies in Pampanga, reiterated his intention to be a “major player in Clark.”
Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments Corp. has long expressed interest in investing in the total development of the Clark airport: the construction of Terminal 2, an LCC (low cost carriers) terminal, city air terminal to serve as transit point for Clark passengers coming from Manila, and a high-speed rail system linking Clark to Manila.
Pangilinan is also keen on the rail system, saying it “should be an integral part of the Clark airport” as foreign carriers will not be enticed to base in Clark unless there is an express train that will take passengers to Manila in less than an hour.
He said the Northrail can serve for the highspeed train. Two things, Pangilinan said, his group is eagerly awaiting: the bidding for the Clark airport projects, and government being definitive in making Clark airport as premier gateway.
Ramos
It was in April 1994, through President Ramos’ Executive Order No. 174 that the Clark airport was designated as the “future site of the country’s premiere international airport.” EO 174 noted the trend in other countries in Asia as well as in Europe of new international airports being located outside the capitals and major cities “to alleviate congestion in airspace, runways and terminals, and to keep pace with rapid economic development.”
It also cited the need of “relieving Metro Manila of further increase in migration, congestion, pollution, traffic and other urban ills.”EO 174 however failed to achieve its aim with what PGKM claimed as “the imperial dragons’
thwarting of the political will of the national government.”
Arroyo
In January 2006, President Arroyo signed EO 500 unilaterally proclaiming an open skies policy at Clark.
EO 500 was hailed by the Wall Street Journal- Asia as “the move (that) unleashed the forces of liberalization at Clark by allowing foreign airlines to fly in hundreds of thousands of tourists from Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and as far as Dubai.
It also openedthe door to all the trade that could be conducted via the cargo holds of such airlines.” However, seven months later, reportedly on “strong lobbying by the imperial dragons,” Arroyo issued EO 500-A which slowed down and then totally grounded to a halt airline traffic and limited foreign airline’s access to the DMIA and the Subic International Airport.
In March 2011, President Aquino issued two executive orders that that outlined his administration’s thrust to pursue a more liberalized civil aviation policy in the country.
Serving a “pocket open skies policy” were EO 28 that reorganized the Philippine Air Negotiating Panel and the Philippine Air Consultation Panel, and EO 29 ordering these two panels “to pursue more aggressively” the international civil aviation liberalization policy.
Among the provisions of EO 29 is allowing the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to grant any foreign airline the right to operate in the country’s airports other than NAIA. This means that foreign airlines who want to fly in and out
of Clark airport may now do so without the need to undergo the tedious negotiation process of air services
agreements.
Aquino’s EOs have been hailed by overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East, a great number of whom come from Central and Northern Luzon,who have been clamouring for flights servicing their areas of work from Clark.
