Gov. Edgar Chatto is pushing for fast construction of the P7.4 billion new Bohol airport in a crucial national pre-bidding conference where highly-rated contractors, including consortiums, validated their intents. Usec. Jose Lotilla and Usec. Rene Limcaoco on Monday co-presided over the conference at the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Board Room where the project hurdled one more major phase before its implementation. The deadline of the submission and opening of bids is March 3 this year after the DOTC, which is the national implementing agency, issued bid documents last December. “This (2014) is indeed a busy year for Bohol,” Chatto reiterated his projection during his second weekly Friday morning media forum at the Governor's Mansion since the close of 2013.

While the big and modern air terminal, which specifically rises on Panglao island, is undergoing construction until finished in 2016, the existing small Tagbilaran City airport undergoes remedial measures. These measures mainly include the construction of a separate additional apron to allow another plane to park and prevent the repeat of the January 2 runway operational standoff that caused unwanted cancellations and delays of affected flights to and from Tagbilaran. The problem was caused by a commercial plane which pilot window glass shield was damaged, causing it to remain grounded, stranded on the runway and preventing all other incoming flights, vice versa. The strict standard of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) imposes the “one plane policy” on Tagbilaran airport and other similarly-situated facilities in the country.

The policy disallows two planes two touch down at a time at the city airport for safety because of its limited existing runway and apron. On order of DOTC Sec. Jose Emilio Abaya, Usec. Julianito Bucayan, Jr. discussed with Chatto in a separate conference the urgent need to add apron, the lot for which is now negotiated, and other necessities. The governor was joined to Manila by Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II, who handles the Local Project Management Team (LPMT) of the New Bohol Airport Construction and Sustainable Environment Protection Project (NBACSEPP), the project's official name. Chatto said the Tagbilaran airport complex can be redesigned into a competitive commercial hub or special economic zone once the Panglao airport is done and operational. Complementing tourism, which demands a good airport, as economic accelerator is the information technology-driven business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, which Chatto wants to make good here.

The country's domestic tourism alone can earn P1.4 trillion this year or up by P110.6 billion compared to its revenue in 2013 as the Department of Tourism projected the domestic tourists to reach 47.7 million in 2014 or higher than last year's 44.1 million. A study by the United Kingdom-based Skyscanner, a leading global travel site, shows that Bohol was among the top 10 domestic destinations in 2013 for Filipinos, including overseas workers on vacation and homecomers or balikbayans. The Skyscanner provides online comparisons for airfares on millions of flights in over 1,000 airlines and helps travelers arrange flights schedules, hotels/resorts and transport services, accommodations and holiday destinations. It is available in 40 countries---top in Europeand third worlwide---and in 30 languages, receiving more than 25 million website visits every month. One who could manage his time for maximum usefulness, the governor enhanced while in Manila the understanding of why Bohol has kept converging travelers and adventurers from the outside in post- and after-quake times. Chatto articulated on his national television guesting the “tourism in Bohol in 2014 and beyond the post-quake scenario.”

In another conference, he discussed with the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) Administrator Juan Sta. Ana the rehabilitation of the quake-damaged ports in Tagbilaran, Loon (particularly the international cruise ship port in Catagbacan) and Tubigon. They agreed on establishing a negotiated approach and pre-fabricated facility as temporary passenger terminal at the city port where sea travelers are hassled or discomforted by waiting under tents. The temporary facility will be air-conditioned with good rest rooms, in lieu of the present portalets or portable toilets until the damaged terminal and the whole port is fully rehabilitated. The discomforting condition at the city port following the damaging earthquake was raised to the governor by the tourism and trade sectors before Chatto's fruitful Manila trip. (Ven rebo Arigo)