Philippines, Indonesia push air, sea connectivity

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and Indonesia is looking at reactivating direct flights between Davao and Manado and reopening a roll-on, roll-off route to raise their trade and travel cooperation.

In a meeting, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista raised with Indonesian Transport Minister Budi Sumadi the possibility of resuming direct flights between the Philippines and Indonesia.

Both countries revived air connectivity between Davao and Manado in 2019 to expand trade and travel between the Southeast Asian neighbors.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the two nations to suspend the route with the enforcement of travel restrictions across the globe.

Now with the mobility limits lifted, officials from both economies want to restore the route to support the recovery of the travel industry.

Last year, Indonesian Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly vowed to push flag carrier Garuda Indonesia to resume scheduled services between Davao and Manado.

Likewise, the Department of Trade and Industry is campaigning for the revival of the route.

On the other hand, the transport leaders also talked about the possibility of reopening the roll-on, roll-off services that would traverse Bitung in Indonesia as well as General Santos City and Davao in the Philippines.

Bautista and Budi vowed to conduct further meetings to lay down the ways forward on how these connectivity proposals could proceed.

Both officials also committed sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) soon to enhance the training program of their maritime professionals.

The agreement would enable Manila and Jakarta to share best practices in educating their maritime students.

Bautista said the MOU could serve as an avenue for the Philippines to highlight its expertise in the maritime field.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that the Philippines makes up one in every five seafarers worldwide.

Apart from their engagement at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Philippines and Indonesia form part of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), a subgrouping under ASEAN.

BIMP-EAGA seeks to promote trade and investments among its members through the opening of air and shipping routes.