Monday, June 09, 2008 Health authorities join call to keep airport open By Rimaliza Opiña
OTHER than its impact on tourism, shutting down the Loakan airport would affect even the delivery of medical and health services.
Joining the bandwagon of groups opposed to the closure of Loakan airport is the emergency team of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC). BGHMC Emergency Room head, Dr. Manuel Quirino, said the airport should remain open for this is where patients with severe diseases will be brought for transfer to specialized hospitals.
"We need an air ambulance," Quirino stressed, adding helicopters could not serve as alternative in transporting patients with critical conditions.
Quirino said any delay in transportation even more endangers a patient's life, hence the need for an airport. "To enhance tourism, the medical capacity of a destination is also a requirement," he stressed.
Calls to keep Loakan airport open resurfaced after officials of Baguio Tourism Council (BTC), Baguio Conventions and Visitors Bureau (BCVB), Hotels and Restaurants Association of Baguio, Baguio Association of Hotels and Inns, Baguio-Benguet Chamber of Commerce and Industry Incorporated and the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies said the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) and the Air Transportation Office (ATO) has not properly acted on several resolutions passed, opposing the airport's closure.
Baguio Representative Mauricio Domogan said the airport should remain, stressing if there are plans of expanding the Baguio City Economic Zone to the airport this can be done in idle properties of Benguet Corporation in Balatoc, in the nearby town of Itogon.
He stressed the city is for the expansion of Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) but not where the airport is located, it being also a part of the city's history.
Not only does the airport serves as venue for the fastest mode of travel to Baguio, locators at the Baguio City Economic Zone (BCEZ) would also need it for the unloading of raw materials used in the processing of products in the ecozone.
Because of the possibility the ATO may revive plans of closing the airport, Domogan said various stakeholders including the Baguio City Government and officials of the Cordillera should act now and ask the President and DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza not to allow it.
In the meantime, Anthony de Leon, general manager of the Baguio Country Club, and chairman of the BTC and BCVB and concurrent president of the HRAB also stressed the need to rehabilitate the airport. "We can't be opposing all the time. We also have to do something."
Aside from their proposal to rehabilitate the airport, the BTC is also negotiating with Sea Air as another airline to service Baguio's air commuters. At present only Asian Spirit services passengers to and from Baguio.
Airline companies reportedly refuse to schedule flights here because only a few passengers reserve flights to Baguio.
But this is not the case, Domogan said. He stressed there are many who prefer traveling by air when coming to Baguio. However, because flights are often cancelled and passengers were inconvenienced, these resulted to their resistance in reserving flights to the city.
Flights are also cancelled when fog blocks the view of pilots. Domogan said it should be at this time when airplanes bound for Baguio should land at the San Fernando airport in La Union and then travel by land.
He said not only does this cuts travel time but both airports complement one another, Domogan added even as he said roads leading to Baguio also have to be enhanced.
