House panel OKs bill to create Davao airport authority

The House committee on government enterprises and privatization has approved a measure seeking to create the Davao International Airport Authority (DIAA).

House Bill 2002 tasks the DIAA to administer and operate the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City, also called the Davao International Airport.

Principal author Davao City Rep. Mylene Garcia-Albano, who is also the Deputy Speaker, said the DIAA will have a positive impact on the economic development of Davao City and the Davao Region.

“The DIAA creation will substantially contribute to the quest of the Davao Region to emerge as the premier socio-economic tourism center not only in the Philippines but also in the Asia-Pacific Region. Furthermore, the DIAA creation will also spur further economic growth of the surrounding provinces in Mindanao,” said Garcia-Albano.

The Francisco Bangoy International Airport (FBIA) is one of the busiest airports in the country and serves as the gateway to the East Asean Growth Area sub-regional trade block, the center of economic cooperation in Southeast Asia.

The bloc aims to accelerate trade, tourism and investment among its member countries like Brunei, Indonesia Malaysia and the Philippines.

With the country’s open skies policy, Garcia-Albano said it is the best time to enhance the quality of services and competitiveness of the FBIA by creating a body that principally controls, manages and supervise the airport and other airports that may be established in Davao City and the provinces of Davao.

“The DIAA as a centralized body clothed with corporate personality will focus on adopting policies to exploit the potential of the FBlA to be a first-class international airport and will also implement new technologies and efficient methodologies to improve its competitiveness so as to provide a safe and more efficient air transport service which is an essential element of any growing economy,” said Garcia-Albano.

At the committee hearing on Wednesday, co-sponsor of the bill and Cebu Rep. Raul del Mar emphasized that the DIAA would be responsible for the repair and maintenance of all airport assets and equipment transferred to the DIAA by the law, including navigational aids, primary and secondary approach radars, instrument landing system, approach runway taxi clearance, and all the communication facilities necessary for the efficient operation of the airport.

Int'l air connectivity

Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon said he supports the bill, noting the development of the country’s airports is crucial in fulfilling the government’s National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP).

“One of the strategies in the NTDP is that we ensure we will improve international air connectivity, international air access and domestic connectivity to facilitate the entry of foreign visitors. Because the country is an archipelago, our foreign tourists, approximately 99 percent of them, enter the country through airlines. Some countries in Southeast Asia get as much as 70 percent of their visitors arriving or entering by land. We do not have this advantage,” Bengzon said.

Upon questioning by Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay on the viability of the airport, Raul Glorioso, chief of the Aerodrome Development and Management Service of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), estimated that the Davao airport earns at least P200,000 a day from runway operations alone.

Glorioso said the CAAP has no objection to the bills seeking the creation of airport authorities but cited the need to further study such moves with respect to future development and financial requirements to determine the funding and sustainability aspects of such projects.

"Since we’ll be creating an authority, it needs a subsidy,” Glorioso said.

Johann Barcena, Director IV of the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG) said the proposed DIAA must be placed under government corporations and the authority of the GCG within the purview of the GOCC Act.

“We want to request the committee that in drafting the bill, it should align it with the GOCC Governance Act with respect to the appointment of the board of directors and the compensation of the airport authority, among others,” Barcena said. — VDS, GMA News