A new Manila airport at no cost to gov’t

A new Manila International Airport is to rise in four years a short drive north of the capital. It initially will have four runways, with area for two more, unlike the present’s one.

At each runway’s end will be rapid entry-exit taxiways. Up to 240 takeoffs and landings can be made per minute, from mere 42 at present. That will solve runway congestion that delays aircraft movements at the country’s main gateway and all connecting airstrips.

New MIA will have 180 arrival-departure gates for 100 million passengers a year. Latest technologies for air transport ease, reliability, and security will be installed. More than a Luzon hub, the facility will be a regional logistics center.

Upon government’s award of the build-operate contract last month to San Miguel Corp., global airlines began reserving passenger, cargo, and check-in spaces. Airport servicers want in too.

An airport’s state is a traveler’s first impression of the destination. New MIA will make Filipinos proud, SMC president Ramon S. Ang beamed during a recent chat. Most of all, it would be at no cost to government.

Ang has lined up the banks and partners that will help put up P735 billion ($14 billion) for construction.

The 2,600-hectare Bulacan site north of Malabon-Navotas will be accessible by road or rail. An avenue along Manila Bay will connect to Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay-Parañaque, south Metro Manila, and onto Cavite Expressway.

Another passage is from North Luzon Expressway, to link to South Luzon Expressway via Skyway Stage-3, an SMC project to open in Dec. There will be feeders from Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and old MacArthur Highway.

Also, from soon-to-be-revived La Union-Legazpi railroad, for which SMC also will bid. The MRT-7 commuter rail from San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, yet another ongoing SMC work, will be extended via Quezon City-Valenzuela. SMC proposes a new Cagayan-Bulacan highway.

Most of those developments are at no cost to government too. SMC only seeks in exchange normal toll rights. Not only Bulacan but also economic zones in Bataan, Zambales, and Tarlac are to boom.

Likewise, seaports in Manila, Subic, and Poro Point. Brisk commerce to and from New MIA will boost national GDP. In all, along with airport construction, SMC will pour a trillion pesos into the infrastructures.

It took the government seven years to green-light Ang’s airport plan. Delays in visionary projects should be avoided in future.

On signing the airport deal last week with Transport Sec. Arthur Tugade, Ang announced another out-of-the-box idea. SMC proposes to build a ten-lane, all-steel “elevated EDSA” along the old 24-km ground level.

On it he can run a bus rapid transit (BRT) to ferry 1.5 million riders a day. Traffic will unclog in Caloocan, Quezon City, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Makati, Pasay, and Baclaran.

That too will be at no cost to government. Construction will take 24 to 30 months. The economy loses P3.4 billion a day from Metro Manila gridlocks.

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Talkback: Three readers from overseas reacted to my piece on regulating and inspecting glass products (Gotcha, 11 Sep. 2019):

Jeffrey Mascariñas, Paterson, New Jersey: “I regularly follow news from home, and your article interested me because industrial safety is my line. Plane or treated glass can shatter from impact, stress cracks, edge damage, or factory and installation defects. Best to impose product standards as first line of consumer defense.”

L.D. Lovinson, Trenton, New Jersey: “Have they not heard of spontaneous glass breakage? Falling, flying shards seriously can injure people. Countless incidents; look it up online.”

Isabel Fuentes, Malaga, Spain: “You are correct to point out that government must impose product standards on home supplies, from cement, steel bars and glass, to appliances, light bulbs, and pet foods.”

On usurpation of presidential powers under the Good Conduct Time Allowance law (Gotcha, 4 Sep. 2019):

Atty. Alfredo R. Busico, former councilor and vice mayor, Iligan City: “The GCTA law (R.A.10592) and Articles 96 to 99 of the Revised Penal Code should be revisited and accordingly amended or modified to reconcile with the sole power and privilege of Executive Clemency assigned by the Constitution to the Office of the President. Executive clemency of commutation is now no longer exercised exclusively by the President.

It is shared by the Bureau of Corrections director, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology chief, and any warden of a provincial, district, municipal, or city jail, thus elevating said officers under the Executive Department as co-equal with their Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief.”

Federico I. Lojo: “It is very clear that those presidential appointees whose job is to serve, protect, and strengthen our democratic institutions – and the citizenry in general – have shown complete incompetence and utter disregard of the respect that they owe the people. Shameless, kapal-muks to the bone. There must be accountability here. But where does the buck stop?”

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Last chance this weekend to see “Passion”, a Tony-award winning Broadway musicale. Theme: forbidden romance and wild obsession in the Victorian era. Composed by Stephen Sondheim, it is based on Ettore Scola’s film “Passione d’Amore”.

Produced by Karla Gutierrez and directed by Robbie Guevara as the Philippine Opera Company’s 20th anniversary presentation. Featuring theater veterans Shiela Valderrama-Martinez, Vien King, and Jasmine Fitzgerald, supported by Lorenz Martinez, Raul Montesa, and Noel Rayos.

Carlos P. Romulo Theater, RCBC Plaza, Makati City. Sept. 27 and 28 at 8 p.m., with 3 p.m. matinee on Sept. 28 and 29.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).

Gotcha archives: www.philstar.com/columns/134276/gotcha