First District Congressman Rene Relampagos yesterday disclosed that the fate of the Panglao Island Airport Project will be decided by a site assessment and evaluation team that will be coming to the province this week. This information was relayed to the first-termer solon by Inky Lucban, director of Planning and Policy of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), during the meeting last Wednesday of the House Committee on Transportation, where Relampagos sits as a member. Lucban said that the prosecution of the Panglao Island Airport Project (PIAP) will depend on the recommendation of the site assessment and evaluation team. Panglao will always be a priority in so far as the development of an airport in Bohol is concerned, this was made clear during the meeting, which was attended by officials from the DOTC and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.

“But let us not raise hopes,” Relampagos soberly reminded. “As soon as we get a favorable finding and recommendation from the team, then and only then can we proceed with the conduct of the value engineering of the PIAP,” he continued. The value analysis of the Panglao Island Airport Project is important to erase whatever doubts there might be or have been created when the project was bid out prior to the May 10 elections this year. The assessment will support Pres. Noynoy Aquino's call for transparency in all government undertakings, especially with those concerning the previous administration. Meanwhile, Relampagos said that we must be vigilant in so far as following through with the PIAP since all is not yet well with the proposed project at this stage. In a related development, the mayors and vice mayors of Bohol, during a joint meeting called for by Governor Edgar Chatto last Thursday, approved a resolution addressed to Pres. Aquino recommending the continuation of the construction of the Panglao Island Airport Project.

Early in the joint meeting, it was stressed that there is no doubt that Bohol needs an airport. The only question to be settled was whether or not the PIAP is still a priority of the national government and where the proposed airport should be situated. The joint meeting, held at the Conference Room of the Governor's Mansion, was attended by the Bohol chapters of the League of Mayors of the Philippines, headed by Loay Mayor May Imboy, and the Vice Mayors League of the Philippines, headed by Balilihan Vice Mayor Efren Chatto. Also present were the members of the Management Executive Board of the provincial government and newly installed Provincial Police Director Constantino Paul Barot, to address other concerns the mayors and vice mayors had. Relampagos recognized the great efforts made by Gov. Chatto, the local government units concerned, and the stakeholders of the tourism industry of Bohol to see the realization of the PIAP. Although a neophyte in Congress, Relampagos chairs the House Committee on Human Rights and is the vice chair for the Committee on Information Communication Technology. Aside from the Committee on Transportation, Relampagos also sits as a member in the House committees on Tourism, Higher Education, and Accounts.