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PANGLAO, Bohol.
- Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday confidently declared the Panglao-Bohol
International Airport will be built solely on government funds without a single
centavo from foreign loans.
Stressing
the P4.17-billion project will be the first of its kind to be funded jointly by
the Manila International Airport Authrity (MIAA) and the national government through
the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
During
her speech at the laying of the project's time capsule in barangay Tawala yesterday,
the President assured the airport will be operational starting 2010.
"The
Panglao Airport will be built on Philippine money without any foreign borrowings,"
Arroyo announced to a cheering crowd of some 2,500 people who attended the groundbreaking
rites.
The
MIAA has already earmarked P3-billion to shoulder bulk of the project's civil
works in the next two years while the DOTC will include it in its budget proposal
in 2009.
According
to President Arroyo, the Panglao Airport is an important element not only for
Bohol's development but also the country's.
"Being
at the center of the tourism industry and the influx of investments because of
Bohol's tourist attractions," she said, the airport is a vital infrastructure
in Central Philippines.
| | | "Your
resorts here are world class including your dive sites," Arroyo said. "That
is why I brought my Cabinet here together with some professional divers so they
will help promote Balicasag Island, a popular dive site."
President
Arroyo was welcomed by provincial officials headed by Gov. Erico Aumentado, Vice
Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera, Representatives Edgar Chatto, Roberto C. Cajes and
Adam Relson L. Jala along with Panglao Mayor Benedicto Alcala.
The
President was assisted by DOTC Sec. Leandro Mendoza and MIAA General Manager Alfonso
Cusi during the time capsule laying rites. | Arriving
by helicopter at around 10 a.m., President Arroyo immediately started with the
capsule laying ceremony. Msgr. Jeffrey Malanog of the St. Joseph's Cathedral led
the opening prayer.
President
Arroyo ended her speech by lauding "Bohol's united leadership" of Aumentado
and Herrera together with the three Bohol solons, as a strategy of moving forward
for development that is worth emulating by other provinces.
In
his welcome address, Aumentado was generously thanked the President for "fulfilling
a 20-year dream of the Boholanos to realize an airport in Panglao".
The
"dream which was started during the time of former Gov. Constancio Torralba,"
the governor said, is "the mother of all infrastructure developments in the
province."
Aumentado
likewise expressed gratitude to Mendoza and Cusi for including the airport project
in the Philippine Medium Term Development Plan.
According
to MIAA Assistant Manager Tirso Serrano, during the capsule-laying rites, Cusi
indicated that instead of constructing the 2.5 kilometer runway before the 2010
deadline, it will now be extended to the full 3.5 kilometer length as laid down
in the project's design.
LOAN
SAVINGS
President
Arroyo bared that Finance Sec. Margarito Teves has reported a P2.2 billion savings
from interest payments of the country's foreign loans in the past four months.
The
savings, she said, will be utilized to shoulder the P1-billion needed as counterpart
of the national government to the Panglao Airport project.
Since
Teves projects to post more savings from interest payments in the coming months,
President Arroyo said the food security program and infrastructure development
will be given priority.
MEET
POWER DEMAND
When
the airport becomes operational by 2010, the President said power demand of the
province will increase by about 6-percent, President Arroyo said.
In
anticipation of this need, Arroyo bared that she has directed the National Power
Corporation and the Transmission Corporation (Transco) "to take action"
and meet the electricity demand.
She
likewise thanked power companies in the Visayas for maintaining lower rates compared
to Luzon and Metro Manila despite the difficulties and the cost of underwater
cables transmitting electricity from Leyte to the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Negros
and Panay.
"I
have asked the Napocor and Transco to lower power rates some more here in the
Visayas," President Arroyo announced.
The
President also announced her endorsement of the campaign of Chocolate Hills in
the global search for the New 7 Wonders of Nature. | 
