A lawmaker on Tuesday said the creation of Davao International Airport Authority (DIAA) will spur further economic growth of the surrounding provinces in Mindanao.
PDP-Laban Rep. Mylene Garcia-Albano of Davao City made a statement after the House Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization recently approved House Bill 2002 seeking to create the DIAA that will administer and operate the Francisco Bangoy International Airport (FBIA), also known as the Davao International Airport, in Davao City.
“The DIAA creation will substantially contribute to the quest of the Davao region to emerge as the premier socioeconomic tourism center not only in the Philippines but also in the Asia-Pacific region. Furthermore, the DIAA creation will also spur further economic growth of the surrounding provinces in Mindanao,” Garcia-Albano said.
Albano said the FBIA is one of the busiest airports in the country, as it serves as the gateway to the sub-regional trade block known as East Asean Growth Area.
The bloc is the center of economic cooperation in Southeast Asia that aims to accelerate trade, tourism and investment among its participating member-countries, like the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and lndonesia.
According to Garcia-Albano, it is the best time to enhance the quality of services and competitiveness of FBIA by creating a body that will principally undertake the control, management and supervision of the FBIA, and such other airports that may be established in Davao City and the provinces of Davao.
“The DIAA as a centralized body clothed with corporate personality will focus on adopting policies to exploit the potential of the FBlA to be a first-class international airport and will also implement new technologies and efficient methodologies to improve its competitiveness so as to provide a safe and more efficient air-transport service, which is an essential element of any growing economy,” she said.
Under the bill, the DIAA shall be responsible for the repair and maintenance of all airport assets and equipment transferred to the DIAA, including, but not limited to, navigational aids, primary and secondary approach radars, instrument landing system, approach runway taxi clearance and all the communication facilities necessary for the efficient operation of the FBIA.
During a House hearing, Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon backed the passage of bill.
He said the development of the country’s airports is crucial in the fulfillment of the government’s National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP).
“One of the strategies in the NTDP is that we ensure we will improve international air connectivity, international air access and domestic connectivity to facilitate the entry of foreign visitors. Because the country is an archipelago, our foreign tourists, approximately 99 percent of them, enter the country through airlines,” he said.
“[Also] some countries in Southeast Asia get as much as 70 percent of their visitors arriving or entering by land. We do not have this advantage,” Bengzon added.
Meanwhile, Raul Glorioso, chief of the Aerodrome Development and Management Service of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap), said the FBIA earns at least P200,000 daily from landing and takeoff flights alone.
While the CAAP is supporting the approval of the bill, Glorioso, however, said the government should do a further study with respect to future development and financial requirements to determine how to sustain and fund such development.
“Since we’ll be creating an authority, it needs a subsidy,” Glorioso said.