SAN VICENTE, Palawan — The Francisco B. Reyes (FBR) Airport on Busuanga Island will soon move to a new location on a 300-hectare land at the Yulo King Ranch in Coron town, Palawan province to accommodate larger aircraft and become an international airport hub with extended facilities.
Palawan 1st District Rep. Franz “Chicoy” Alvarez said Thursday that an initial funding of PHP1 billion from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) had already been transferred and downloaded to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) so that bidding can start for the relocation and construction of a bigger airport.
He said he had already held a joint meeting with the Forest Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Bureau of Animal Industry, CAAP, DOTr, and other line agencies.
“There is a need to totally re-orient the airport in Busuanga because it can no longer be extended to accommodate larger planes as the surrounding areas are mountainous,” Alvarez said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) during the inauguration of the new San Vicente Airport.
He said he sees no problem in transferring the airport to the Yulo King Ranch (YKR) since talks and eventual agreements would be government-to-government.
Governor Jose Alvarez will be helping CAAP in dealing with the settlers, who had illegally taken up residence in the proposed area, he added.
“There’s a lot of illegal settlers, but our governor has committed his help in talking to them to vacate the area for the proposed site,” he said.
Rep. Alvarez said the CAAP has already surveyed the proposed site at the YKR in December last year and the latest news his office received last week was that a pre-bidding conference might happen before June.
He expressed hope that the relocation of the Busuanga airport would happen this year since it has been long overdue, since the administration of former president Benigno Aquino III.
“In two weeks, I was told that the pre-bidding conference will open. Another two more weeks and the detailed engineering design will already be offered for bidding,” Alvarez said.
The FBR is classified as a Class 2 principal or minor airport by the CAAP serving the general area of Coron and sharing with the neighboring municipalities of Busuanga and Culion.
It was named after Francisco B. Reyes, the mayor of Coron who served from 1936 to 1939, and who donated the land that forms the current airport complex.
Once completed, he said the airport can also receive foreign tourists who can fly directly from Hong Kong, Korea, and China.
“They can fly directly to Coron and no longer pass through Manila and that would save them precious time, especially if their holiday schedules are short. Traffic congestion in the international airports will be lessened too if they fly directly to Coron,” he said. (Celeste Anna Formoso/PNA)
