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PREVIOUSLY reported by Executive Secretary Eduardo as a
virtual goner, Executive Order (EO) 500-B, which will
further liberalize the Diosdado Macapagal International
Airport (DMIA), is very much alive and could actually be
signed by President Arroyo soon if her body language
were made as basis. This is the fearless forecast of
Victor Jose Luciano, president and CEO of the Clark
International Airport Corp. (CIAC).
Addressing members of the American Chamber of Commerce
of the Philippines (AmCham) Wednesday at the Mandarin
Hotel, Luciano said one clear indication that the tide
against the issuance of EO 500-B is about to be reversed
is President Arroyo’s directive for the bidding of
DMIA’s terminal 2 to proceed.
“The
terminal is an indication that she is going to do
something about this. In the coming months, this will be
resolved,” Luciano said at the general membership
meeting of AmCham, a strong lobbyist for the issuance of
EO 500-B.
He said
President Arroyo already saw the business growth in the
area when Clark was partially liberalized by allowing
foreign carriers to fly the DMIA route, albeit on a
limited basis, through the issuance of EO 500-A.
Luciano
said the President also promised a “gift” to Capampangan
(natives of Pampanga where she also traces her roots),
and the opening up of DMIA could be it. “This would be
her legacy,” he said.
DMIA’s
utilization has increased to about 500,000 passengers
annually with the partial opening of DMIA. About 100,000
of these passengers are foreign tourists, who have
helped businesses around the area to boom, particularly
the hotels now enjoying up to 95-percent occupancy rate.
Luciano
said they have a conflicting opinion on the matter with
the Department of Transportation and Communication,
which is inclined toward a more restrictive policy at
this time.
The CIAC,
on the other hand, wants immediate open skies declared
in Clark so more foreign airlines will be allowed to
have unlimited flights to Clark and also fly to a third
country, which EO 500-A does not allow.
“Time is
of the essence. We want this to proceed while she is
there because after her term, we don’t know what will
happen,” Luciano told the BusinessMirror.
He said
even Secretary Ermita did not categorically say that EO
500-B will no longer be issued, but only mentioned that
at the time of his interview with Palace reporters,
there was no indication yet that the President would
sign it.
Luciano
hazarded a guess: The President is still weighing things
because she does not want to hurt the operations of
local carriers, which have complained that the foreign
airlines, many of them heavily subsidized by their
governments, demand open skies without reciprocal rights
for Philippine carriers.
Still,
Luciano said the fact that business is booming in
Pampanga will become one of the crucial considerations
the President cannot ignore.
This, he
said, is why the President is already giving them the
indirect signal to start attracting new foreign carriers
by ordering the bidding for the second terminal, seen to
increase DMIA’s passenger capacity to 10 million.
“That is
what she is saying to us when she told us to proceed
with the bidding. She wants us to bring more airlines,
which means she is going to liberalize it,” Luciano
said.
Anyway,
the opening up Clark will be the direction in future,
particularly with the Asean plus 3 (China, Japan and
Korea) open skies about to be concluded, he said. |
