GMA urged to make Clark RP’s int’l airport

President Arroyo should make Clark the country’s premiere international airport to decongest NAIA and spur economic development.

This was the common stand adopted by some multisectoral government and non-government organizations led by the Pampanga Mayors League in a "People’s Summit" held Thursday in Angeles City.

The group said NAIA is already obsolete and has no room for expansion unlike Clark, which was recently renamed Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), that has two parallel runways which are designed to accommodate the US space Shuttle and the largest military aircraft in the world.

The group also scored the contract between the government and the Philippine International Air Terminal Inc. (PIATCO) which they claimed would stunt the growth of DMIA because of several provisions virtually giving PIATCO a monopoly to operate international airports.

Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr., chairman and spokesman of the MIA-NAIA Association of Service Operators (MASO), who was the principal guest in the summit, said that the PIATCO "is not only detrimental to the interest of Clark but also to the Filipino people."

Yasay said the contract which was amended three times during former President Estrada’s term to favor PIATCO should be immediately abrogated in the interest of the Filipino people and to uphold the legacy of former President Diosdado Macapagal.

Yasay expressed hopes that President Arroyo will act favorably on the sentiments expressed by those who attended the summit. The summit participants led by Angeles City Councilor Alex Cauguiran, president of Move Clark Now!, Mayor Mariano Morales, Mabalacat mayor and Pampanga Mayors League president, and the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry will submit several resolutions to Malacañang calling for the full development of Clark and the cancellation of the PIATCO contract.

"We believe that the development of Clark as an international airport can offer better and increased opportunities for better service handlers, cargo companies, travel agencies and other related businesses because of the greater capabilities of Clark compared with NAIA," the convenors said.

The convenors also said "In fact, many international aviation experts have expressed apprehensions over the insistence of the government in expanding NAIA. There is no room for expansion."

They cited a study by an aviation expert, which stated that NAIA, could be fully saturated by year 2005.