PAF to intensify role as economic catalyst

ILOILO CITY — With the Arroyo administration’s policy shift from "all-out war" to "all-out peace," the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is poised to intensify its role as an economic catalyst by leading the aviation industry in stimulating growth in the countryside.

This was bared by PAF chief Lt. Gen. Benjamin Defensor Jr. here as he announced ongoing talks for the establishment of an Air Force facility on Guimaras Island, which he had proposed to be connected by bridges to Negros and Iloilo so as to form a so-called "Western Visayas growth triangle."

Defensor said the project will result in economic activities which will make this growth triangle a vital hub of national development.

By linking Negros and Iloilo to Guimaras, all three provinces will consequently have access to the proposed Air Force facility as a cargo hub, making way for the flow of products and people not only in these provinces but also to the rest of the archipelago and to other parts of the world.

Defensor said he has proposed the project to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in one of their meetings.

"I started the idea with (Guimaras) Rep. Emily Lopez, and the other government officials I had talked to agreed that the project will practically unify our economies on a scale never known in national history," Defensor told his provincemates.

He revealed having witnessed this phenomenon in other countries, saying, "I know very well that aviation, the means of transportation in the 21st century, is the fastest growing economy in the world. Aviation employs one out of nine people. It has 10 percent of the world’s Gross National Product. It has 11 percent of the world’s total workforce. Beyond all these, the joint use of air bases and airports hold success stories in all countries in the region."

He cited as an example the success story of Mactan, which used to be a barren limestone island until an Air Force base was built there.