DOTC rejects proposal to commercialize Fort Magsaysay military airstrip

FORT MAGSAYSAY, Palayan City — The dream of local government officials in Nueva Ecija to turn the existing military airstrip inside the military reservation here into an airport for joint civilian and military use will never be realized as the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) rejected the proposal.

DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza ruled out the possible conversion in the future of the two-kilometer airstrip into a combined military-civilian airport.

Mendoza said the conversion of the existing airstrip into an airport may not be feasible because of low potential air traffic due to its accessibility and efficient road network and its short distance to Manila.

Mendoza did not grant the request of Nueva Ecija Gov. Tomas Joson III for the DOTC to allocate P650 million for the development and upgrading of the airstrip into an airport due to limited funds earmarked for the development of 87 existing national airports.

The development of the airstrip, he said, is principally the responsibility of the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Philippine Air Force (PAF) since it is within the military establishment of Fort Magsaysay, home of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division .

The long trail of disappointment for local officials goes back to more than a decade when the idea of a commercial airport was first broached. The dream project has outlived the reign of three presidents, at least five DOTC secretaries and the same number of commanding generals of the 7th ID.

When Aurelio Umali, a former deputy commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which is under the DOTC, was elected congressman in 2001 to succeed Pacifico Fajardo, he filed a House Bill proposing a combined military-civilian airport.

Since 1992, local government officials in the province, both from Joson’s Bagong Lakas ng Nueva Ecija (Balane) and Umali’s Lakas-CMD, have been pressing for the conversion of the airstrip into a joint military-civilian airport.

In 1992, former congressmen Renato Diaz, Eleuterio Violago, Fajardo and Victorio Lorenzo jointly sponsored House Bill 9750 converting the existing military airport into a civilian domestic airport.

In HB 9750, the proponents mentioned that Palayan City, the seat of the provincial government, has no existing airport so that Novo Ecijanos were forced to travel by land or sea to other provinces. Air travel, they noted, may only be availed of after traversing several kilometers of land to reach the nearest airport in Metro Manila. This, they noted, result in slackened business, trade, commerce, tourism and other socio-economic activities in the province.

The proposal called on the DOTC to supervise the military airstrip’s upgrading by equipping it with modern air transport facilities capable of handling commercial air traffic.

In October 1993, the late Lt. Gen. Arturo Enrile, then the Army chief, asked Fajardo, whose district covers the reservation, for an airport development plan to be integrated into the development plans for Fort Magsaysay. Two weeks later, Fajardo asked then DOTC Secretary Jesus Garcia Jr. for the DOTC and the Bureau of Air Transportation (BAT) to conduct a feasibility study on the proposed airport.

DOTC Undersecretary Jose Valdecanas, however, informed Fajardo that the conversion is not feasible , citing, among others, the fact that the major commercial activity in the area is agriculture and its tourism potential is low. The area is also accessible through alternative modes of transport and there are airport facilities within the vicinity of Nueva Ecija, the nearest of which is the international airport in Clark.

In 1997, former President Fidel Ramos directed Enrile, who became DOTC secretary, to establish a civilian-military airport to complement the proposed establishment of an economic zone in Palayan.

The Air Transportation Office’s (ATO) technical team then came up with an airport lay-out plan proposing to upgrade and develop the existing airport at a cost of P630.7 million. This included repair and rehabilitation of the runway, the construction of the aircraft movement areas, passenger terminal building, provision of air traffic control and air navigation facilities and other anciliary buildings.

In May 1999, former DOTC assistant secretary for planning George Esguerra said an ATO initial site inspection showed that the airstrip can be developed technically for commercial use.

A DOTC official who requested anonymity told The STAR that the proposal was not well-thought out since there was no captive market. The official noted that from the point of view of air transport, the location was so near Clark, which can be reached in 30 minutes.

"Maybe, it can accommodate aviation aircraft, but only a handful," the official said.

He added that the project is wanting in economic benefits since the cost of constructing an airport would easily reach P100 million without getting any return on investment.

Umali, however, said that all is not lost for the airport as it could be used not as a regular airport but as a transit point for goods.