Saturday, December 02, 2006 Passengers in airport fume, miss flights By Elias O. Baquero Sun.Star Staff Reporter
DOZENS of airline passengers failed to catch their flights yesterday because the road leading to the Mactan-Cebu International Airport was closed for the dry run for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit.
One Edgar Bartolome said he and his colleagues were booked for the Philippine Airlines 10:15 a.m. flight for Manila.
But his colleagues did not make it to their scheduled departure because the policemen manning the closed road did not let them pass even if they showed their airline tickets.
Other passengers who came late to the airport were scheduled to fly to Davao City, Camiguin, Clark in Pampanga, Caticlan (Aklan), Puerto Princesa in Palawan, Tandag in Surigao del Sur and General Santos City.
Because of public inconvenience in the dry run, Bartolome suggested that only half of the road shall be closed during the summit and the other half be used by the public.
“What if a passenger has a connecting flight to Saudi Arabia? He will lose his opportunity to work abroad,” he said.
Suggestions
A passenger said that a policeman manning the road asked him why he passed by the area at that time when it was scheduled to be closed, as published in the newspapers and announced over the radio.
He told the policeman, “Don’t expect that all people read newspapers and listen to the radio.”
Another passenger who refused to be named also suggested that Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base be opened to traffic as alternate road during the summit.
“What is there to protect at the air base when the Philippine Air Force aircraft is about a kilometer away, the golf course where military officers play daily?” the passenger said.
Supt. Elias Abad Jr., chief of the Police Center for Aviation Security (PCAS), said that as relayed by the National Organizing Committee to them, the heads of state and government, will travel from the VIP Lounge at Benito Ebuen Air Base to Shangri-la’s Mactan Resort and Spa and the Hilton Hotel and Resort passing through the airport tarmac and the road leading to Barangay Ibo.
Inauguration
A new 200-meter road, which connects the airport tarmac and the diversion road to Barangay Ibo, was completed only yesterday.
The VIP Lounge, on the other hand, will be inaugurated on Monday.
Abad said they required all airline companies, cargo forwarders and airfreight firms to submit to PCAS the names of their drivers and workers who will work during the summit and the details of their cargo vehicles to be used as reference during inspections.
Captain Angel Rodriguez of Barangay Punta Engaño said there was heavy traffic in his barangay and the adjacent Barangay Mactan because of the dry run.
But Rodriguez said the people in his barangay are happy with the Asean summit because some foreign businessmen may be encouraged to invest in his barangay once they see the place.
He said that Hilton is located in Punta Engaño, while Shangri-la is partly located in his barangay.
