Three airports

By Al S. Mendoza

SUDDENLY, everybody seems to want an airport.

Mayor Rey Velasco wants one in Sta. Barbara and Mayor Nani Braganza wants his in Alaminos City.

Nani cites GMA as his No. 1 backer for his airport.  GMA had publicly singled out Alaminos as the site of Pangasinan’s future airport.

Rey says Sta. Barbara should be it, citing his town’s accessibility to many major towns of our province, including Alaminos.

Obviously, Nani has the upper hand in his tug-of-war with Rey. Already, Nani had gotten a promissory note from GMA for seed money for the airport project in Alaminos.

Obviously outraced in the mad dash to the Palace by Nani, Rey now wants to tap investors from overseas for his airport project.

Not to be outdone, Guv Spines has joined the fray.  He now also wants to build his own airport in Lingayen.

Nani contends Alaminos should be it because his city has the Hundred Islands as the built-in attraction for tourists.

Rey says the ATO itself “has picked” Sta. Barbara as the ideal place for an airport in Pangasinan.

And if I correctly read Guv Spines’ mind, he’d opine Lingayen should win it since an airstrip already exists in Lingayen.

“There’s not even a crosswind in Lingayen as some detractors of a Lingayen airport project would like us to believe,” says Raffy Baraan, that dapper-looking, right-hand man of Guv Spines.

Would you board a plane in Manila going to Sta. Barbara? 

What’s in that town that should make you want to visit it?  Brahman goats?  Black and white cattle?  Eggplants as long as a Shogun’s samurai?

We have the Manleluag Hot Springs National Park in Mangatarem but our mayor, the handsome Teddy Cruz, isn’t interested in building an airport – even as we have a reputable flying school there and an airstrip to boot at Teraoka Farms located just at the foot of the mountains near Macarang separating us from Zambales.

Nani has the beautiful, world-famed Hundred Islands and that should perhaps be enough reason for him to have his airport in Alaminos.

Guv Spines has the historic Lingayen Gulf where MacArthur and CPR landed some six decades or so ago, the charming Urduja House and the architectural marvel that is the Capitol Building.  All three are more than enough to justify Guv Spines dream to rehabilitate the airstrip in Lingayen.

All right, all right, Rey’s Sta. Barbara has a rustic scenery besides being considered the gateway to Pangasinan, not to mention its being almost adjacent to the Pilgrim City that is Manaoag.

My advice is for us to let them be.  Let’s not debate over whether one is more deserving of the honor to have an airport more than the other.

Instead, let’s watch them do their thing.  The taste of the pudding is in the eating.  We will only know if an airport would bring good to its builder once it is built and finally operatonal. 

Thing is, it’s about time Pangasinan has its own airport.  If it should be three airports, then it’s three. The more, the merrier.

Manila, much, much smaller than Pangasinan, has four airports.  Baguio, much tinier than Alaminos, has an airport.

So, let’s go for it – make Pangasinan the only province in the country that has three airports.

Let’s wish Nani, Rey and Guv Spines luck.

Meanwhile, may I also wish Mayor Sammy Rosario success as he leads his beloved Binmaley constituents in celebrating their fiesta on Feb. 1.

Among his distinguished guests on Friday include, among others, Mayor Jojo Binay of Makati, Guv Spines, anti-smuggling czar Bebot Villar, Chief Superintendent Leopoldo N. Bataoil  and cycling legend Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

All the best, Sammy, and may you continue to make your Binmaley the most beautiful town in Pangasinan!

(Readers may reach columnist at also147@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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