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CEBU CITY, Philippines - Establishing a domestic airport in the municipality of Moalboal may boost tourism in southern Cebu by provide faster access to tourist spots such as Badian Island.
Representative Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district) said tourists will always prefer the fastest way to get to a vacation spot.
“In the absence of an airport, tourists would have to hire helicopters that would bring them from Mactan to Badian,” he said.
Government inspectors have already inspected possible spots for an airport in the town, said Moalboal Mayor Yvonne Cabaron.
One site was a 104-hectare lot in Barangay (village) Tubli. Part of the property is a timberland owned by the municipal government. Also within the beach side property are privately owned fishponds.
Cabaron said inspectors from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Air Transportation Office (ATO) have already studied the area as the site with the most potential.
Garcia said the agencies were waiting for a Presidential Proclamation that would allow the use of the timberland for eco-tourism, specifically for a domestic airport.
If the airport is established, it would be under the supervision of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA).
“If this program is realized, it would do a lot of good for tourism in the 2nd district,” Garcia said.
While Moalboal was receptive to the idea of an airport, officials of Santander and Samboan were not as enthusiastic with the idea of the national government establishing government-funded roll-on, roll-off (Roro) ports in the two towns.
Garcia said officials of the two towns told him that government-run Roro ports would compete with those established by the local private operators.
“There problem is that these national government Roro ports will affect the existing facilities. This might create a conflict with existing operators,” Garcia said. “My position is to support the local government units.”
The national government’s Roro ports were to be run by the Cebu Ports Authority (CPA) and become part of the nautical highway.
A cargo Roro port run by Maayo Shipping operates from Samboan. A fastcraft
passenger Roro port operates in Santander.
The two towns get a share from the private Roro ports' operations through taxes.
Garcia said he would try to find a way to have the private Roro operators work with the CPA.
