PNOY APPROVES P100-M FUNDING FOR M’LANG AIRPORT ACCESS ROADS

Airport Completion Unstoppable

By Manny Pinol

www.mannypinol.net

In spite of desperate and dirty attempts by local political interests to delay the completion of the most important infrastructure project ever to be implemented in North Cotabato, the controversy-hounded M’lang Rural Airport is bound to be completed during the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

M’lang Mayor Lito Pinol yesterday said that an additional funding of P100-M has been allocated in the 2014 budget of the Department of Transportation and Communications for the construction of the access roads from the national highway to the airport site in Barangay Tawan-tawan, M’lang.

The new budget earmarked for the M’lang Airport Project came after the Regional Development Council (RDC) recommended additional funding to complete the project as scheduled by the end of 2014.

A member of the RDC, who refused to be named, informed www.mannypinol.net that the fasttracking of the M’lang Airport Project is being undertaken in view of the expected signing of the peace agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine government in 2015 which will usher in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Government.

Among the provisions of the proposed agreement is the full and complete control and operation by the Bangsamoro Government of all government facilities located in the territory which would include the old Cotabato Airport in Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat (formerly Dinaig).

“The M’lang Airport will be a very vital facility for the national government because it will be the alternate to the Cotabato City Airport,” the RDC member said.

When completed, the M’lang Airport, officially named Central Mindanao Airport, is expected to accommodate Airbus 300 type aircrafts and medium-sized cargo planes.

It is expected to serve the communities located in the southern parts of Bukidnon Province, Maguindanao, Davao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat and the whole of North Cotabato.

Envisioned by then M’lang Mayor Manny Pinol as early as 1995, the airport project was officially initiated in 2003 with the approval by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of North Cotabato of the proposal to acquire 64 hectares of land from the Buenaflor/Cuerpo families in Barangay Tawan-tawan, M’lang.

The area was bought in two batches, the first 32 hectares in 2003 through funds from a supplemental budget approved by the SP, and the second 32 hectares in 2004 through funds included in the regular annual budget.

With the support of then Energy Sec. Vince Perez, who allocated P30-M from his department and transferred to DOTC, Sen. John Osmena who earmarked P5-M and the efforts of then Senator Richard Gordon and former Cong. Jun Pinol who worked for the allocation of P100-M, the airport project was started in 2007.

In 2009, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated the 1.2-kilometer runway and the terminal building, which formed part of Phase I of the project.

The M’lang Airport Project, however, was mothballed following the elections of 2010 when the new Governor declared that she will not support the airport project because its construction was sub-standard.

It was a position which I believe stemmed from the fact that the airport project is identified with me and its completion and operation will undoubtedly boost my political stock.

In 2011, however, I personally sent a text message to President Aquino asking for his support for the completion of the airport project.

Through representatives Jesus Sacdalan of the First District and Nancy Catamco of the Second District, the DOTC approved a budget of P154-M which is now being used to widen the runway and complete the construction of other facilities.

Unable to stop the progress in the construction of the airport, the provincial government formed a provincial monitoring group headed by Cong. Jose Tejada of the 3rd District.

However, instead of hastening the completion of the project, a member of the provincial monitoring group, former vice governor Jose Tuburan, Jr. created a controversy when he accused me of being the real owner of the first 32 hectares acquired by the province in 2003.

He based his allegation on the wording of the Deed of Sale between the province and the Buenaflor/Cuerpo families where I signed in 2003 on behalf of the province.

Tuburan, who has gone to the media to accuse me of graft and corruption and likened my family to that of Janet Lim Napoles, has deliberately refused to consider the fact that when I signed the document, I was the Governor of the Province of North Cotabato, hence I was the official signatory.

He and his cohorts in the media, apparently working with political groups in the province who intend to derail the airport project, pointed out that the absence of the phrase “representing the Province of North Cotabato” when I signed the first Deed of Sale made me the owner of the first 32 hectares.

They have also ignored the fact that I also signed the second Deed of Sale for the other 32 hectares acquired by the province in 2004 and that the only difference between the two Deeds of Sale was the absence of the phrase “representing the Province of North Cotabato” in the first document, an apparent mis-look on the part of the lawyer who prepared the documents, Atty. Freddie Baynosa who is now seriously ill and his cognitive abilities have been impaired.

It is an accusation which I have belied since aside from the Deed of Sale, there is no other document which would show that I own the property.

The area has also been turned over to the DOTC for the development of the airport without me getting paid for the property which I allegedly “own.”

The efforts to delay the completion of the project are proving to be unsuccessful with the allocation of the additional P100-M for the access roads.

Despite efforts to pull down the dream of the people of North Cotabato, the M’lang Airport project continues to soar and will certainly fly high.

Source: Manny Piñol