The initial reaction to the presence of the Army Battalion in the M’lang Airport terminal building was that of concern over what they would do to the facility.
When I visited the area yesterday (Dec. 19), however, I found out that the army battalion under Col. Kit Teofilo which has made the airport area their temporary headquarters actually served as reliable guards of a very important transport facility which has been abandoned and ignored by the current political leadership in the province because it happened to have been initiated by me.
The terminal building which was completed in 2009 is in good shape and could immediately serve its purpose the moment the control tower and the aviation instruments are installed with the use of the new funding of P154.5-M released by President Noynoy Aquino through Sec. Mar Roxas, then head of the Dept. of Transportation and Communications.
The plan of the national government is to convert the Mlang Rural Airport into a future international airport to serve the areas and people in Central Mindanao.
In fact, the national government has renamed the airport as the Central Mindanao Airport.
The airport is expected to create about 2,000 job opportunities, make travel easier for people of Central Mindanao who have to travel for about 3-4 hours to Davao City, and perk up the economy in the area by providing transport facilities for North Cotabato’s perishable and high value agricultural products.
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