SWS: Most Filipinos against transfer of main airport

MANILA, Philippines — Six in every 10 Filipinos support the retention of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as the country’s main airport, according to a commissioned survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

SWS yesterday confirmed results of the March 25 to 28 survey following the authorized release made by sponsor Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. over the weekend.

Aboitiz is part of the seven-member consortium that proposed the rehabilitation of NAIA, which seeks to expand its capacity to handle the bulk passengers using the country’s main gateway.

Other conglomerates in the group include AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

The survey, which was conducted in time with the SWS first quarter survey, asked respondents for their opinion on the proposal to relocate the main airport to address the congestion at NAIA.

They were given four options: Bulacan, Cavite, Clark in Pampanga and no need to transfer to a different location.

SWS said 62 percent of the respondents said that there is no need to relocate the main airport, while 22 percent recommended Clark, Pampanga.

Nine percent recommended Cavite, while another six percent said Bulacan. One respondent volunteered Baguio.

The survey had 1,200 respondents and an error margin of ± three percent.

The NAIA consortium released the survey results after they secured the original proponent status for the NAIA rehabilitation project.

In addition to the NAIA rehabilitation project, the government is also looking at the proposals of San Miguel Corp. and the Cavite provincial government to build international airports in Bulacan and at Sangley Point, respectively.