Disappeared

This is really curious. An entire airport project disappeared from the national budget set to be signed into law by President Duterte over the next few days.

The masters of illusion can weep with envy. They can only make elephants disappear. The magicians at the Philippine Congress can make an entire airport disappear into thin air.

The rehabilitation of the Naga airport to take in international flights has long been on the drawing boards. The NEDA board classified this as a priority airport project. The Department of Transportation gave its go-ahead for the project as early as 2013.

The Final Report for the Naga Airport Development Project close to where the old, dilapidated airport sits was ranked first by experts in the list of candidate airport sites. This is understandable. The existing infra around the Naga Airport is well developed. The area is the center of agro-industrial development in CamSur. Application of the Multi-Criteria Analyses (MCA) ranks the Naga airport project as first in terms of viability.

CamSur used to be one of our poorest provinces. Now it is one of the wealthiest, thanks to the efforts of LRay Villafuerte who served the province as governor for three terms.

With much foresight, LRay built up CamSur as one of the major tourist destinations in the country. Its beautiful beach resorts, featured in several international television series. It is a favored destination for surfers and divers. The only thing holding back CamSur’s galloping local economy is the obsolete airport at Naga.

Naga native Vice President Leni Robredo first raised the issue about the disappearance of the budget allocation for modernizing the old airport. Perhaps because she was too polite in raising the matter, she was ignored by the political powerbrokers.

LRay is brash in his complaint. He wrote President Duterte, the Cabinet economic cluster and the ranking members of the economic affairs committee to reconsider the item for the Naga airport in the 2018 national budget. He calls for returning the funding for the Naga airport because “it is viable, existing and fully supported by documentation and prior studies.”

Fully committed to the economic unfolding of his province, LRay is not about to allow the interception of Naga’s airport budget. Unlike other alternatives, the Naga airport has been fully studied and positively recommended for its viability. The upgrade and modernization of this airport is integral to CamSur’s 15-year development plan. In fact, budget allocations were made in the previous budgets to begin work on the upgrade.

The weight of economic expertise and previous public investments clearly favor completing the Naga airport upgrade. No other alternative site has been as thoroughly studied and confidently recommended.

San Jose

Where did the funding for Naga airport disappear to?

In the 2018 budget about to be signed by President Duterte, a strange new airport appeared as a budget item. This is the proposed San Jose airport located a mere 30 kilometers from the old airport at Pili, thereby creating serious redundancy.

The new airport is proposed to be located in San Jose town in Camsur’s “Partido” district. This district has been ruled for a century by a single political family. This likely explains why it is the poorest part of the province.

Connect the dots. If a budgetary item disappears or is redirected from its original purpose, such blatant act can only be explained by the impunity of local warlords.

The proposed San Jose airport obviously benefits from a congressional hijack of the funding for the Naga airport. It is a proposed facility located in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the poverty stricken towns of CamSur and distant from the main tourist destinations.

How could such a budgetary hijack enjoy the support of our responsible legislators?

There is ample history to support congressional insertions and interceptions like this one. It is the most bankrupt feature of our legislative politics. The House of Representatives hosts some of the best budget magicians in the land.

There are no feasibility studies supporting the location of the airport at San Jose town. The available infra to move people and goods to and from the proposed airport hardly exists. If this budget interception is not stopped in its tracks, this will be yet another colossal waste of public funds.

Credit that to the play of local political lords who get their way because they will forever own the seat for their district.

This is such a blatant hijack of public funds. All economic reasons militate against building the airport at far-flung San Jose instead of completing the upgrade of the existing Naga facility.

To add to the scandal, the proposed San Jose airport is not endorsed by the Regional Development Council. As is usual with the public works projects of the ruling family of the Partido district, no public consultations were held. The project funding simply pops up in the pages of the 2018 budget.

Contrast this with the Naga airport project. Apart from being classified a priority by NEDA, it is also covered by a memorandum of agreement between the DOTr and the provincial government. The Master Plan Study for the Naga Airport Development designates this facility as the “sole future jet airport” for the province.

A swindle is being pulled here right before our eyes. This is how corruption happens. There could be a land play for the areas around the proposed San Jose airport. Guess who owns the land?

President Duterte can help restore justice to this universe by vetoing this blatant interception of funds.