THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (RDC) headed by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is pressing the national government to do something about the deteriorating state of the much-ballyhooed Francisco Bangoy International Airport (FBIA) located at Sasa, Davao City. The RDC has asked the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to take urgent action on six major problems, especially those that pertain to the safety of airline passengers, security of the airport and air travel itself, as well as the services and convenience that the plane-riding public deserves. The two agencies, both under the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), were asked to solve the problems discovered in a probe conducted by a Technical Working Group formed by the RDC to look into complaints on the defects of the P5.4-billion facility from the riding public and media. To institute reforms in the airport, the CAB and the CAAP were urged to exercise their individual powers as agencies to iron out the multiplying kinks in the international facility. Among the things CAB and CAAP, and especially DOTC, are asked to do are the immediate repair and maintenance of mostly basic facilities and equipment like toilets, drinking fountains, ceilings, floors and walls, escalators and elevators, x-ray security machines, airbridge and air-conditioning units. The RDC also urged government to buy a new firetruck to replace the old one which had been unserviceable for years, and a sufficient number of fire extinguishers. Another advocacy of the RDC has to do with a vital government policy—the development council, composed of government and private sector leaders, wants the airport to retain 50 percent of its annual income for its regular operation and maintenance and to provide for capital investment. There are other things that need to be done in the airport. Prompt action by the government on these urgent problems will depend partly on how constant the RDC’s followup will be. While we are at it, will somebody tell the airline companies that “Bangoy” in Francisco Bangoy is pronounced “Bang-goy” as in mango, mangosteen, gringo and hunger, and not like hanger and hangar. Government officials like Tourism Regional Director Art Boncato and City Tourism Officer Jason Magnaye should do something to stop this form of ridiculing the memory of the great Dabawenyo who donated billions of pesos worth of land where the international airport is today.
