We need a world-class international airport. I dare anyone to refute that statement. Lucky is the Filipino traveler who has yet to experience a delayed flight because of an extremely congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia). I doubt if such a passenger even exists.
After a recent surprise visit to Naia Terminal 2, an appalled President Duterte ordered the Department of Transportation to fast-track improvements in Sangley Airport. The DOTr is now in the midst of constructing a new passenger terminal building, hangars, a new tower, night operations equipment and a 2,300-meter runway. Nevertheless, the Sangley Airport will only be able to cater to a few domestic flights given its single runway.
The DOTr also approved an Ayala-led Naia Consortium’s offer to upgrade Naia. The consortium promised to increase capacity to 65 million passengers from its originally designed capacity of 35 million passengers. Naia has gone above the safe capacity zone by as many as 10 million passengers. This is one of the reasons why the US government has warned its citizens about the security hazards surrounding Naia’s terminals. The ratio between airport security and passengers continues to grow apart every single day.
You also cannot build an additional runway at Naia without disrupting the lives of millions of businesses and homeowners. Common sense dictates that you need a whole lot of empty, unclaimed space to build one or more runways. Space is not in abundance within Naia given its proximity to hundreds of subdivisions.
Imagine this: You’ve gained weight and became the fattest you’ve ever been. The solution is not to force yourself into the skinny jeans you bought at the age of puberty. You need to shop and wear bigger clothes. The same principle holds true for an international airport.
The logical solution is clearly the building of a world-class airport in Bulakan, Bulacan, as proposed by San Miguel Corp. (SMC). The proposed New Manila International Airport (NMIA) is closer to the metropolis than the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark, Pampanga. San Miguel now owns thousands of hectares legally purchased from residents along the coastal area of Bulakan town. The provincial government led by Governor Daniel Fernando and Vice Governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado vowed their full support to the construction of this new airport.
The quiet town of Bulakan, Bulacan, represents a blank canvass to build a modern, world-class airport in a historic province that is most accessible to key urban centers across the entire Central Luzon. The airport will be built in phases, with millions of jobs to be generated. The coastal areas of Bulacan will be rejuvenated with accompanying flood control projects that would spare lives and accelerate economic progress. The airport, as designed, will have four runways, a huge and modern airport terminal building equipped with amenities for our overseas Filipino workers, tourists and people with disabilities.
I have seen the area where the airport would be built. With my good friend and former staff, Joey Meneses Rodrigo, we took a one-hour boat ride along the river that would span the airport’s length. Traversing through the waters, I saw the skyline of Roxas Boulevard, which means that ferries can easily bridge the distance from Manila to Bulakan. Judging from the scenic route, the NMIA has the potential to become one of the world’s most scenic airports that can combine modernity with that warm, hometown feeling.
We need a new airport because our population keeps growing and we are also attracting more tourists to our shores. We cannot afford to be known as the flight delay capital of the world. We are already gaining notoriety for abrupt, temporary airport shutdowns due to lightning alerts.
My friend, RJ Nieto of Thinking Pinoy, wrote in his blog that Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez appears to have been hindering the progress of the Bulacan airport. During a Senate hearing, it was Dominguez who raised this query: “How will the Bulacan airport affect the Clark International Airport, given the government’s investments in Clark? Your honors, all airport projects are real-estate projects.”
I wonder if it was the businessman in him that was raising this question or was it him as the alter ego of our President? I ask this because it is not the job of a Cabinet Secretary to pit one province against another. It is his job, however, to look at how to combine the strengths of adjacent provinces with the clear development goal of creating a new growth corridor.
During the same Senate hearing, Dominguez also said: “We take this opportunity to categorically say we have not caused the delay in the Bulacan airport.”
Mr. Secretary, please put those words into action. Make sure the New Manila International Airport gets built, and built soon. The Department of Transportation granted SMC “original proponent status” in October 2017. So what’s holding it up?
Our modern-day heroes have been dreaming of a world-class airport for decades now. They are banking on Tatay Digong’s political will to turn this dream into a reality. The completion of NMIA can be the President’s enduring legacy and one of our proudest moments in history.
Susan V. Ople heads the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, a nonprofit organization that deals with labor and migration issues. She also represents the OFW sector in the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.
Image credits: Tupungato | Dreamstime.com
5 comments
Dilaw ka. I attended the public hearing in February 4, 2019. AT first we thought it was a PUBLIC HEARING of the Sangguniang Bayan ng Bulakan, only to be presented with the impact studies conducted by a consultancy firm with a Greek name on the environmental assessment they did on those 2,768 hectares of mangrove swamps-converted fishponds during the time of Congressman Teddy Natividad. They got our names, we signed an attendance sheet, but we suspected that it was not really a SB hearing but a rigged presentation of EIA and approval as the Director of DENR-EMB was there. You keep mentioning Ma’am the flood control projects. If we follow what the private firm presented to us, there was not a mention of a floodgate or flood control projects during their presentation, which even the presenters from the firm noted, as attendees in the hearing remarked the EIA was lacking discussion on flood control. They did not even mention an AIRPORT; they mentioned though of backfilling projects of those 2,768 hectares fishponds, and a TSUNAMI assessment, which a barangay kagawad sitting next to me had mocked, saying there was not one tsunami in the history of Bulacan coastals, NOT ONE, that struck Bulakan, or Bulacan, generally. So to even mention the tsunami to us, instead of the flood control spillways or dike, means there was not really a plan to prioritize flood control. They (DENR-EMB Director in attendance) riggedly approved the Environmental Compliance Certificate of the airport, using our names, the names of those who attended the February 4, 2o19 hearing which turned out to be sponsored not by the local government, but by the environment-assessing firm (Tsoulos?), even though there were loud protestations. Miss OPLE, you may review the transcription of that hearing if there is, otherwise you can listen to the videotapes they did. We are asking for a little sensitivity from you and your friend RJ Nieto since you are Bulakenyos who might not have experienced the floods brought by the tambak projects in Bulacan. Flooding is real, as the tambaks have been happening for several years already, which changed the contours. If you knew cartography, you would know that changing land elevation can alter the natural flow of water. DENR-EMBs is found lacking on due diligence as it has kept approving “development” projects all through-out the province without first checking that the agricultural lands of farmers may get submerged in flood waters. Madame, flood is killing our farmers’ livelihood. Moreover, even if you say the lands bought by those firms were titled properly, this was illegal because those fishponds are formerly-swamplands, and by act of law, swamplands are public lands and cannot be titled. Atleast, Ayala Corporation was sensitive enough to save Bulakenyos from the consistent flood threats. SMC presented a tsunami study, but not flood control to us in the Feb 4 2019 hearing in San Jose. YOU CAN CHECK that. Of course there will be a problem if Dominguez does not approve of the airport. THERE WILL BE, as this means the national government may not guarantee the funding sources, which SMC maybe loaning from abroad, NOT LOCAL BONDS, because SMC only has 60 Billion Php, which means, this may constraint the whole airport plan. Do you also know MISS OPLE, that Villar and Gatchalian’s family had bought lands in Matungao, Santa Ana and San Jose Bagumbayan barangays of Bulakan ? If airport pushes through, a real estate business will be found very profitable. Archie San Miguel, a native of Bulakan, like you and RJ Nieto are, has documented the abnormal flow of water with pictures, showing areas in the province formerly not easily-flooded, now becoming mainstay catchment reservoir of floodwater. He seemed OA but there was truth to what he was saying, it being a wisdom of old. If YOU and THINKING PINOY love your province, you should investigate how the ECC was riggedly approved by DENR-EMB Region 3, how corrupt this government agency is, and check the LAW: swamplands cannot be titled as these are public lands. Even if those less than 3000 hectares were titled, well, it was done illegally. We have to thank even AYALA Corporation’s Consortium for saving us from the uncertainty of flood control of the airport project. WERE YOU BRIBED BY THEM MADAME OPLE?
Your COUSIN Gigi Carillo is even the Provincial Government’s Agriculturist. Why not ask her of the phenomena of decreasing palay land farms in Bulacan? Dilaw ka rin Madame Ople. My father used to invite your DAD Ka Blas in commencement exercises, as the founder of BULPRISA. Ka. Blas used to call my dad Mr. Roxas. So I know who I speak to now too. Respect the people. You may check the things I just told you. OMG, RJ Nieto did not even graduate from UP for you to listen to him, even INDICTED for LIBEL recently!!! WERE YOU BRIBED TO WRITE THIS OPINION like RJ Nieto is?
Ms Roxas, calm down. We can’t get to the meat of the issue with the filler you put in your lengthy article.
First, you accuse Ms Ople of being bribed by SMC, but keep thanking Ayala. You think that’s the way to convince people to side with you?
Second, cut down on your ad hominems. So what if somebody did not graduate or was indicted by Trillanes (ironically enough, as you throw the “dilaw” label at someone you don’t like)?
Third, can’t the catchment problem be resolved by engineering? The Dutch did it.
Fourth, the NMIA project was already approved by the DOTr. Why don’t you argue about the legalese (or that meeting) with them the next time you comment?
PRRD wants to develop as much infrastructure as he could, and spread development to as many more places. Our OFWs need a proper airport. You got a problem with that?
Dear GUEST: I am beseeching SMC to practice Corporate Social Responsibility. I personally not against this development. SMC is not handling the backfilling in Taliptip, the lands were bought by Chinese businesses, without the necessary conversion requirements. Swamplands are part of the public domain. So what RJ did not graduate? Because not all knowledge can be sourced from the streets. Nieto is street-smart, YES. But that not enough. MALAWAKANG PAGBABAHA ang nararanasan NAMIN sa Bulacan dahil sa mga projects that entailed tambak-lupa. We are not the Dutch.IF there is a flood engineering plan, why did the firm employed by SMC not include it on their Environment Impact Assessment which they had used to apply for ECC? Why was there no flood mitigation blueprint? Do NOT front the President because in his visit to Gregorio del Pilar elementary school in Bulakan last year, he’d said EXPLICITLY, HINDI SA AKIN DUMADAAN ANG MGA PAPEL NG PROYEKTO. Review your loyalty. Gagawin mo pang excuse si PRRD.
Blas Ople was also a Cory appointee. It is the truth, with all due respect.
Not because it was approved by DOTr, it means the ECC was NOT riggedly approved. DENR-EMB REGION III is a very corrupt agency. Heard somewhere its employees had become landowners of huge land parcels. You may check. I don’t trivialize San Miguel Corp by saying and thanking Ayala Corp for being sensitive. But hey, Ramon S. Ang is very aggressive on the project. Is there something wrong with that? None except that madaming palayan na ang hindi nasasaka dahil sa pagbaha nang wala sa tamang panahon. Ironic that the Angat and La Mesa dams naghihingalo dahil walang tubig, samantalang ang mga palayan lubog sa baha. Alam mo kung bakit nagkakaganito? Nababago ang contour ng lupa sa cartographical maps ng probinsya namin dahil ang mga geodetic engineers ng DENR-EMB Region 3 ay mga walang isip!