DOTr eyes more airport privatization

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista is stepping up pressure on interested proponents of other airport projects following the successful privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to the Ramon Ang-led San Miguel Corp. consortium, which in a short four months has already implemented and improved the capacity utilization of the country’s premiere gateway.

In an interview, Secretary Bautista gave updates on the Sangley Airport project, Clark Airport, the Villar-led airport projects in Iloilo and Puerto Princesa, as well as plans for the Davao International Airport.

DOTr officials led by Bautista yesterday met with representatives of the Yuchengco-led Sangley Point International Airport Consortium that includes MacroAsia Corp. and the Virata-led Cavitex Holdings Inc., and the Cavite Local Government representatives to discuss how to proceed with the proposed $11-billion airport project that was awarded way back in September 2022.

According to Bautista, the Sangley airport project will take much longer than expected to be developed into an international gateway. He admitted that development could take “at least 10 years.”

As such, he said the interim plan is to use the Cavite airport as an adjunct facility to NAIA. At present, Bautista pointed out, the Sangley airport is operational and currently being used for “fish runs.” He explained that fish cargo shipments currently use Sangley.

Additionally, the DOTr chief said, “we are eyeing it to accommodate the smaller turbo prop operations.” The New NAIA Infra Corp. and the DOTr had already agreed that turbo prop operations would be transferred out of NAIA to Clark International Airport, allowing the Parañaque airport facility to accommodate the larger capacity airplanes and improve flight operations further.

Even so, Bautista admitted, plans to utilize Sangley as an adjunct to NAIA for domestic operations would still also take some time to be implemented as “the runway needs to be extended.”

Bautista assured that even if Sangley is used for some turbo prop operations, Clark’s takeover of turbo prop accommodation would not be diminished as “Clark serves a different market to the north.”

The DOTr Secretary also acknowledged that Clark’s unpopularity to travelers is due to the continued delay in the government’s railway project that would provide faster connection to Mega Manila.

The DOTr, on the other hand, is already prodding the Villar group to complete the submission for its proposed P31-billion Puerto Princesa and Iloilo airport projects, warning them that if they take longer than the deadline, “I may bid out the projects to other interested parties.”

Real estate developer Manny Villar last year had submitted a proposal for the Puerto Princesa airport project, P10.24 billion, and P20.85 billion for the Iloilo International Airport. They have been given up to the first quarter of this year to submit their proposal, with the hope that the two projects can be awarded this year.

Secretary Bautista also revealed that the World Bank’s International Finance Corp. is preparing the Terms of Reference for the Davao International Airport privatization. The DOTR and IFC signed an agreement in November last year for the IFC to serve as the transaction advisor for the Davao airport privatization. The IFC study, Bautista said, would hopefully be completed in four to five months.

The Davao airport, Bautista pointed out, is the third busiest in the country and provides connectivity to our neighbors in the south such as Malaysia and Indonesia, and maybe even further to Australia and New Zealand.

BIR admits lower revenue target

Meilin Hirang, chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s public information and education division, in response to my Jan. 22 column, Reader calls out BIR, admitted that the BIR’s 2024 collection target had been “corrected” as the “correction was necessary because the previously set goal had several economic assumptions that never came to fruition.”

In an email, Miss Hirang said that “It is true that the BIR, through Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 11-2024, initially set a revenue target of P3.055 trillion. This target was subsequently adjusted to P3.047 trillion in RMO 29-2024, reflecting the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s (DBCC) approved goal in July 2023, not July 2024.”

She explained that “it’s crucial to understand that the economic landscape is dynamic. Subsequent to the July 2023 DBCC meeting, further meetings were held on March 22, 2024, and June 27, 2024.

In both these meetings, the Department of Finance (DOF) presented the BIR’s updated and more accurate goal of P2.849 trillion. The same goal was approved by the DBCC during these meetings. This correction was necessary because the previously set goal had several economic assumptions that never came to fruition.”

She further explained that “The DBCC is the authority empowered by law to set the collection goal of the BIR. And as previously stated, DBCC set the collection target for BIR at P2.849 trillion for 2024.”

An anonymous reader had called out the BIR for not pointing out that its 2024 revenue target was not as remarkable as it appeared to claim based on the fact that its original target had actually been revised downwards twice based on economic assumptions.

The reader and I, however, feel that the revenue collecting bureau could still greatly improve its collection effort if it cracks down on tax cheats. Of course, we all acknowledge that corruption is so deeply ingrained in the Filipino psyche, but with the government desperately in need of more revenues, perhaps the revenue collecting agencies should really focus more on plugging leaks and educating consumers and taxpayers on their right to demand official receipts and adherence to proper tax collection.

Additionally, our lawmakers should also stop misusing our hard earned tax payments for their pork barrel.