MCIAA board passes resolution: 2nd runway gets approval

CEBU, Philippines - The Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) Board has approved the proposal of Cebu City North District Rep. Raul Del Mar to start the construction of the airport’s second runway.

The MCIAA Board passed Thursday a resolution approving the proposal during its regular meeting held at the Cebu Ports Authority (CPA) Boardroom.

The proposal also includes the utilization of the proceeds of the Premium Payment received from GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), the present operator of the MCIA Terminal.

It may be recalled that the GMCAC joint venture corporation won the bidding for the construction of the MCIA New Passenger Terminal Building and the Operations and Management of the two PTBs, through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

The P14.4 billion premium payment has been under public discussion due to the position of the national government that the money belongs to the National Treasury. Del Mar, however, insisted it should remain with MCIAA and should be used to build the second runway.

Del Mar has since lobbied for Congress to have the fund retained in MCIAA. He also filed resolutions for the retention, which adopted by the House Committee on Transportation, and, at every opportunity, made representations for this purpose repeatedly with then DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.

Finally, in November 2015, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), now the Department of Transportation (DOTr), and the Department of Finance agreed that the premium payment shall accrue to and become part of the income of MCIAA.

However, existing laws require that MCIAA pays taxes on this income (around P4.2 billion) to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and dividends (P4.9 billion) to the National Treasury. Thus, P4.9 billion remains free and ready for appropriation.

This is what Del Mar explained to the MCIAA Board - to earmark the P4.9 billion and P2 billion of MCIAA's retained earnings and such additional amount as may be necessary for the airport's second runway construction, and to start the project’s development process right away.

The MCIAA Board agreed with him fully and passed the resolution unanimously on mass motion.

“Del Mar thanks the members of the MCIAA Board for sharing our concerns that the construction of the airport's second runway as soon as possible is vital lest we lose our competitive advantage in the Visayas and Mindanao areas to new international airports now undergoing construction,” reads Del Mar’s statement.

Sometime in 2015, Del Mar urged DOTC and MCIAA to fast-track the establishment of the second runway.

Del Mar filed House Resolution No. 2236 directing DOTC and MCIAA to proceed with the project utilizing as fund source and financing the P14.4 billion premium remitted by GMR-Megawide.

It was Del Mar who authored principally Republic Act 6958, which created MCIAA, and which was approved on July 31, 1990.

The MCIAA is a government-owned and controlled corporation, an attached agency of the DOTC, which shall principally undertake the economical, efficient and effective control, management and supervision of the MCIA, and other airports that may be established in the future.

The GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), the Consortium's operating entity, started operating the existing terminal in November 1, 2014 and is now constructing PTB-2 to be completed in 2018.

The new terminal will increase the current terminal capacity of 4.5 million passengers per annum to around 13.5 million passengers yearly, which will result to increasing frequency of flights and boosting passenger arrivals.

Del Mar said the expected rapid increase in passengers and flights will certainly result to as much 'higher and heavier utilization of the existing 3.3 kilometer runway which will result to airfield congestion as time passes.

“It is important to state that the second parallel runway is necessary, to cope with the ever-increasing demand for air transport services resulting in more flights and more passengers,” Del Mar said.

He added that barring the occurrence of global financial and/or economic disruptions, the aviation industry is expected to grow in the next 30 to 50 years, and additional airport infrastructure is necessary.

Del Mar also pointed out that the approved Concession Agreement includes the provision of an additional runway within the concession period the timing and mechanism for the creation of which is clearly laid out in Section 22.7.

On July 3, 2013, he filed House Bill No. 1080, which sought the establishment and construction of a second runway at airport in Lapu-Lapu City.

HB 1080 was approved by the House of Representatives on third reading last October 20, 2014 and was transmitted to the Senate on October 22, 2014. — /JMO (FREEMAN)