Action is needed now

THE continued inaction of the national government on the deterioration of the Davao International Airport has made our  political and business leaders in the region  look like fools and helpless.
In fairness to them, our leaders both in government and the private sector have been complaining about the sorry state of the DIA for years now. They’ve gone on the record during the meetings of the Regional Development Council (RDC) and other multi-sectoral bodies and have, in fact, written about it to the civil aviation authorities in imperial Manila.
Unfortunately, their complaints have so far fallen on deaf ears.
They can not also be faulted for lack of trying to find a lasting solution. For instances there have been attempts to pass a law creating a Davao International Airport Authority like the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) which allows the airport authority to retain its earnings and plow them back to fund development projects and other needs. The proposals have been shot down in Congress one after another on the argument that DIA’s income is not even enough to cover its operations and that the much-vaunted international facility is actually being subsidized by the national government through the Air Transportation Office (ATO), now the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
Due to its deteriorated facilities, the airport has been downgraded by standards auditors. Indeed, the safety, let alone convenience, of millions of passengers who use the airport is compromised. The CAAP is playing deaf and dumb to the problems, even those that do not require the release of funds.
Meanwhile, recent press releases from the Department of Transportation and Communication had trumpeted about billions of pesos set aside by the DOTC for rehabilitation and repair of airports in the country. Somebody ought to ask DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas quick whether there is some money for the Davao International Airport’s rehab or just upkeep. As it is, the DIA is not even mentioned in the press releases.