Rush to repair Mactan runway hits new snag

CEBU — The urgent need to repair the badly deteriorated runway of the Mactan Cebu International Airport has hit yet another snag with the rejection by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) of the temporary appointment of the airport manager.

The Freeman has obtained a copy of the commission’s disapproval of the temporary appointment of airport manager Angelo Verdan, who early last week brought to the fore the urgency of repairing the runway of the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

The board of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) designated Verdan as manager in October last year. President Arroyo subsequently approved the appointment.

But the CSC, in a decision dated July 7, said Verdan lacks the civil service eligibility needed for the post.

Verdan confirmed the CSC’s ruling in a telephone interview with The Freeman Saturday night, saying he was not worried about it because it was a matter for the MCIAA board to decide, being the one which appointed him to the position.

After Verdan called attention to the badly deteriorated runway, the Philippine Airlines, which operates at least 16 flights in and out of Mactan, threatened to cease all its Cebu operations if the runway is not repaired immediately.

But immediate repairs on the runway may have to depend on the outcome of a court hearing today in which the MCIAA is a litigant.

The state of disrepair of the 3,300-meter runway dates back some two years. The MCIAA then conducted a bidding to have the runway repaired, with US-based Echelon Industries emerging as the winning bidder.

But the MCIAA refused to award the contract to Echelon, claiming it later obtained derogatory information about the company, something the company vehemently denied.

Echelon later went to court and won the first battle when the Regional Trial Court issued a restraining order against the MCIAA, stopping it from either awarding the contract to another company or undertaking the repair work by itself.

Today, the court hears MCIAA’s motion for the lifting of the restraining order.

Meanwhile, pressure is now building up for the MCIAA to undertake the urgently needed repairs regardless of the outcome of the restraining order against it.

Serious dangers

Tourism regional director Patria Aurora Roa, concurrently a member of the MCIAA board, said the repairs should be done immediately in the face of serious dangers posed by the current state of the runway.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, angered by the news that human lives are at risk each time an aircraft takes off or lands on the dilapidated runway, said the members of the MCIAA board should all be fired for bowing to the court order at the expense of courting disaster.

PAL released pictures of badly lacerated tires of its aircraft, claiming it has to change tires almost after every use of the runway for fear that they may explode from the wear and tear and cause a terrible disaster.

Pictures of the runway also showed deep ruts and a disintengrated asphalt cover, resulting in the scattering of gravel which, PAL said, could cause a disaster if this gets sucked into the engines of its aircraft.

To keep the runway viable in its present state of disrepair, the MCIAA is making do with vacuuming the runway at least every three hours to get rid of any loose debris.

Aside from PAL, at least nine other local and foreign airlines use the airport. This does not include general aviation and military aircraft from the nearby Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base which also use the facility.

In all, the Mactan airport, the country’s second biggest, handles at least 124 flights a day with 63 percent of those flights involving commercial aircraft.

Antonio Oppus, an MCIAA board member and a former airport manager himself, said the disapproval of Verdan’s appointment would add to the problem of urgently addressing the safety concerns at the airport.

Oppus said even if the MCIAA board decides to go ahead and repair the runway by itself, it will still need the signature of the airport manager in order to make purchases of supplies and equipment.

With Verdan out, such purchases cannot be made and the airport will have to continue deteriorating daily and endangering lives.

Ildefonso Lazaro, MCIAA corporate management service and business development manager, has applied for Verdan’s position, claiming he holds the CESO-IV eligibility required for the post.

Aside from Lazaro, two other officials hold the same eligibility, namely, Marcelino Cordova, assistant MCIAA general manager, and Ahmed Cuizon, MCIAA public affairs division head. — Freeman News Service