“But we beg you Mr. Secretary, not Sangley but Clark. If it is a seaport perhaps Sangley will be it,” Cauguiran said to the applause of mostly DOTC-attached government personnel attending the meeting after his passionate speech.
At the onset, Abaya was batting for the establishment of what he called a “new NAIA” in Sangley that would eventually replace the “old NAIA” once it becomes operational.
“From Manila, we are working with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) to push for a new gateway in Sangley. As regards to the timeline, we expect an inception report good enough for the NEDA (National Economic Development Authority) Board sometime middle of this year; the full egress should be done by March or February of next year,” Abaya said.
“The best scenario there is we would get NEDA Board approval but I’m not sure if we could start reclamation… but again just to have a NEDA Board and prove to whoever would replace us in the department that this is a plan that was carefully thought of without any agenda and hopefully a plan that they could pick up on once they assume office,” he added as he also stressed that they are now down in the “last two minutes” of their administration.
Published reports indicate that the proposed Sangley airport would require a massive reclamation of 2,000 hectares from the sea with a cost of P240 billion.
Vested interests
The Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) has earlier bared what it said was “vested interests” at play in the choice of Sangley Point for an international airport because Abaya is a the former Cavite representative in Congress and his brother, Peter Anthony Abaya, is the general manager and CEO of the Philippine Reclamation Authority.
The PGKM instead urged government to use Sangley as a seaport to help in the decongestion of the Manila port, CIAC President-CEO Emigdio “Dino” Tanjuatco III said the Consultative Meeting on Clark airport is upon the initiative of the DOTC.
“Through the meeting, we can start the process of integrating the plans and showing to the DOTC what the different stakeholders have intended for the airport,” Tanjuatco said.
But Cauguiran said nothing will again happen in the consultative meeting “if there is no direct policy from the President of this republic directing all departments and agencies of what Clark would be in the next 20 years.”
“This is what we want not Sangley. We want the president of this country to make a policy decision making Clark as an alternative gateway in the next 10 years from now,” he added.
“Develop all the facilities and after 30 years you will know, God’s will, this will become the premiere gateway of our country no longer Manila not even in our wildest dreams Sangley with due respect Mr. Secretary,” Cauguiran said to a resounding applause.
He said what is needed is a high speed train that could transport people from Clark to Manila or vice versa in less than an hour.
Doable
“That could be done by incorporating in the budget of the DOTC ‘X’ number of billions per year or invite airlines to come to Clark with substantial tax incentives and other perks,” he said.
“The airport can do that, even the other tax incentives. That’s our position that is why this meeting for the umpteenth time is nothing,” he added.
“Those positions are our positions. Those positions are the positions of the people of Pampanga and Tarlac and I would like to think that I represent here all the government elected officials because they are signatories to those resolutions we adopted years ago when you were still perhaps a congressman, Honorable Secretary,” Cauguiran said to another resounding applause from the attendees.
“Our resolutions in the province and in the city and Pampanga and Tarlac through the years are on record and the records will bear us out,” he added.
“There you will see in our resolutions and proposals made by Pampanga and Tarlac on how to develop this airport… everything that we discuss now they are there,” Cauguiran said.
“We appreciate what CIAC is doing…but it’s time to act now,” he added.
Last 2 minutes
For his part, Abaya said he would rather listen and act. “Engaging in national debate with our last two minutes will let them to a debate rather than the development of Clark,” he said.
“So clearly, this is the direction of the DOTC… Aeroport de Paris is coming in with a P12 billion airport. We are going up to NEDA and the railway link is being addressed. We are addressing all access to Clark and stopping us right now would be to the detriment of Clark and to the people of Central Luzon. Whoever would replace me who wants to debate after me then, I will leave it to his call but at least we are setting clear directions on how we should grow Clark,” Abaya said.
He also said, “I would go up to the President in creating that policy. I’m not sure what that would be when you say Clark should be it, you have to define what it is. Does that entail closing out NAIA?”
