Up in the air (lalamet)

By Marifi Jara

Ganda points for GMA and her spin doctors for their attempt to hide the bigger and more important issues about the mothballed NAIA Terminal 3.

And have to give them credit for using a good emotional tactic – the “people’s safety” as the government’s primary concern for not opening the long idle airport terminal. And of course she cited the portion of the roof that caved in last year. She said that the government would not want to put people’s lives at risk, especially for example if an earthquake happens.

Right.

And what about the legal troubles over it? Deadma. No mention of it.

Pangit points to GMA for taking the people for a fool.

The infrastructure problem, most likely borne out of  years of  in operation (and thus no maintenance work) of the building, has just become a convenient excuse for practically dumping a project that has been marred by so much graft, corruption and inefficiency. That airport terminal stands there in the capital city like a monument to the ills and evils that plague our government.

Our President was compelled to talk about NAIA 3 in her SONA because a good portion of her speech consisted of airport projects from Batanes to the Visayas.

And she did mention an airport in Pangasinan.

But I can only imagine the surprise of Governor Amado Espino, Jr. and Sta. Barbara Mayor Rey Velasco when GMA referred to an airport in Alaminos City – supposedly as requested by JDV and Mayor Hernani Braganza – instead of their vaunted international airport plan in Sta. Barbara.

The young and dynamic Braganza is right when he said afterwards that the airport should not be turned into a “turf war” among Pangasinan’s lead public servants.

Nevertheless, the fact that he had to say that reflects how disjointed Pangasinan is in terms of development on a provincial scale. Our leaders need to work on getting their acts together.

Now that is all the more reason that we should not rush into such big goals as an international airport.

The management and maintenance of an international airport, if it were to be kept financially afloat at the very least, requires sound fiscal planning and the right forecasts for people and cargo traffic.

Will there be enough balikbayans and local and foreign tourists flying in and out of that airport based on its capacity? Do we have the infrastructure and facilities to attract and accommodate them? Are we actually producing agricultural products and other goods in quantities that are in excess of the local demand and are of international quality that we can export in good portions? Is our provincial economy strong enough and the purchasing power of the people high enough to demand for the importation of goods through that airport?

The airport in our neighbor Poro Point, La Union is also currently being developed as an international airport (and there is actually a budget allocation for it). The international airport in Clark, Pampanga, which is more accessible to the producers in Tarlac given the North Expressway, is also well in operation. And there’s also the international airport and seaport in Subic that can serve the rest of Zambales.

So if we do get our international airport here in Pangasinan, we can only largely count on our own to use it. Is Pangasinan really ready for it?

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/)

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