TOURISM advocates from the private sector got their much needed political support in their fight to oppose the planned closure of Baguio’s lone airport in Loakan when Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan said he would ask the six other Cordillera lawmakers to join him in opposing the plan.

Domogan assured officers of the Baguio Tourism Council and Baguio-Benguet Chambers of Commerce and Industry that he will see to it that the petition against the planned closure of the airport, which he claimed will be signed by the six other congressmen, will be submitted to the office of President Arroyo.

Tourism advocates and city officials, including the business sector, had earlier expressed alarm and at the same time petitioned against the planned closure of Loakan airport to pave the way for the expansion program of locators at the Baguio Special Economic Zone.

But Domogan said the airport should remain open and that city officials are willing to help the private sector in identifying possible sites for the expansion of locators within the Philippine Economic Zone Authority in the city.

The Department of Transportation and Communications’ Cordillera regional director Federico Mandapat Jr. acknowledged the importance of keeping Loakan airport open but the fight seems headed for defeat.

“The 1990 earthquake here showed the importance of the Loakan airport as this showed that it was the only way to transport people and supplies with the closure of the roads,” he said.

“But right now, it is only the rich who are using the airport,” he said. “If the plan is to use the airport space instead for the Baguio City Export Processing Zone [BCEPZ], then we should consider the plan,” he said.

Mandapat said he is for considering not advocating the closure of the airport.

“The issue is also about employment if the BCEPZ is expanded,” he said however.

Mandapat said that there is no way to lengthen the airport. “How do you extend it? Widen it?” he said, saying there is no more available space.

AN ECONOMIST from the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) projects that Filipinos may have already seen the worst of high food and oil prices and would see stable price tags by August and October.

A COMBINATION of market forces and the collective effort by the real-estate developers is keeping lease rates down in Metro Cebu, making the area very competitive as it tries to attract locators, especially into its booming offshoring and outsourcing industry.

UNLESS solid government support backs industry, the outsourcing and offshoring (O&O) road map would hit bumps and sharp curves, a researcher from property broker Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu Inc. said.

HOPING to spur competition among private generation companies to help lower cost of electricity to industrial and commercial users to a comfortable level, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is targeting to pass a resolution on the proposed interim open access (IOA) in the next two months.

TOURISM advocates from the private sector got their much needed political support in their fight to oppose the planned closure of Baguio’s lone airport in Loakan when Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan said he would ask the six other Cordillera lawmakers to join him in opposing the plan.

ZAMBOANGA CITY —Military officials stationed on the island province of Sulu have come up with a concept paper entitled, “Poverty Alleviation through Enhancement of Agri-fishery Cooperatives,” believing that economic development helps achieve lasting peace in a particular place.

THE Philippines is targeting to increase export revenues from rubber by 33 percent to $56 million this year. 

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said industry players are looking to expand the volume of natural rubber production by 10 percent to 450,000 metric tons (MT) this year.