GMA inaugurates Guico airfield in Binalonan
BINALONAN – While Alaminos City and Sta. Barbara town are still competing with each other in a bid to host the first and possibly only international airport in the province, a privately-owned airfield here was inaugurated on February 16.
The airfield, inaugurated by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is owned by the family of Binalonan Mayor Ramon Guico Jr., president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines.
Arroyo and Guico are cousins and Binalonan is the hometown of Arroyo’s late mother, former First Lady Evangelina Macaraeg Macapagal.
With her during the inauguration were Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, Department of Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Al Lontoc, Governor Amado Espino Jr., 5th District Rep. Mark Cojuangco and 3rd District Rep. Rachel Arenas.
Mayor Guico and his wife Arlene, and their son Capt. Ramon Guico III, vice mayor of Binalonan and a licensed pilot, welcomed the presidential entourage.
President Arroyo congratulated the Guicos for putting up the airfield, which has an 850-meter runway, describing the project as a boon to aviation and tourism.
Arroyo said if the airfield is extended by a few hundred meters more, the Air Transportation Office (ATO) is prepared to issue it a license allowing commercial planes ferrying agricultural cargo to use it.
Mayor Guico said an extension of the runway is possible.
The younger Guico said the airfield, complete with a hangar, has been operational three years ago to complement the operations of his own World Citi Colleges (WCC) Aviation Company of which he is the president.
The WCC, a school for aircraft maintenance specialists, flight attendants and student pilots, has a fleet of 28 planes and one helicopter (Cessna 150, Cessna 152, Cesna 172, Piper Seneca and Bell 206).
Presently, the college lists 176 student pilots of different nationalities (100 Indians, 20 Chinese, 10 Malaysians, 10 Mynmaris, 5 Filipinos, 3 Nepalese and 2 Russians) and employs 30 flight instructors.
Guico III said the Philippines is now the number one destination of student pilots all over the world.
Pilot training, he said, lasts for seven months at the minimum.
The Guico airstrip is a few meters shorter than the Lingayen airstrip but wider.—LM
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