Sorry, Diosdado, but pilots prefer Clark

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – Why did the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) drop the name of the former president and revert to its original name, Clark International Airport?

Bienvenido Manga, executive vice president and chief operations officer of Clark International Airport Corp., said yesterday during the Region 1 Tourism Convention here that they decided to retain the airport’s old name because pilots had difficulty articulating Diosdado Macapagal International Airport during flights.

“Namimilipit ang dila nila (It’s tongue-twisting),” he said. “They said it is hard to pronounce.”

Manga said renaming the airport from DMIA to Clark International Airport did not need any bill or resolution.

Clark International Airport was renamed DMIA during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by virtue of a resolution approved by the Clark Development Corp. board of directors on the occasion of the 91st birthday of her father on Sept. 28, 2001.

Although the Clark airport was changed to Diosdado Macapagal, its international code with the Airline Transport Association remains CRK to denote Clark, not DMIA.

Manga said he had received complaints about difficulty of pronouncing the airport’s name, especially by Chinese and Korean pilots.