The bulk of the funding for the Panglao Bohol International Airport will be coming from the Manila International Airport Authority. If there will be any funding coming from ATO, it will not be substantial that it will compromise ATO's budget for procurement of navigation equipment or increase its manpower for air traffic controllers.
If it can be established that airports in other provinces (proposed or undergoing construction) may have bleeded ATO's budget for upgrading of aviation safety mechanisms, I will not agree to the reports that the airport project in Bohol could be partly blamed for the debacle.
My gut feeling is that the Cebu media has rarely anything positive to say about Bohol, or ignores us altogether as though Bohol does not exist.
Although he did not name names, I am pretty sure the writer is referring to us when he said, "these congressmen just don’t want ordinary airports, but want the tag “international†to go with them, even if no international flights come or go to their airports."
However, I can't help but think he has a point if indeed, as a result of political horsetrading, we are allocating budget towards more airport construction at the expense of investment in maintenance and upgrade of safety standards of existing aviation facilities. It does not matter whether the budget comes from ATO or the Manila Airport Authority. Safety concerns are paramount.
As things stand, we are on the losing end. If the Philippines cannot recover its safety rating and scare foreign travelers, it is meaningless to build more airports.
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