CAAP told: Shape up on Davao airport

DAVAO CITY—THE city government expressed its dismay on the management of the airport here and told the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines XI “to act swiftly and improve the facilities and services” at the Davao International Airport.

The city government issued the call on Tuesday and posted it on its website after it took notice of a string of comments from Davao residents and visitors on the state of airport facilities.

“This has been a recurring issue. The local government has constantly raised these concerns to the CAAP XI, which is the agency mandated to manage the Davao International Airport, yet we see no significant improvement until today [Tuesday],”the city government said.

The complaints ranged from poor or no water services at the rest rooms and untidy floors to poor air conditioning system, poor lighting inside the building and lack of push carts.

The city government said that while it has no direct control over the DIA, “the city government continues to support CAAP XI in various ways for the welfare of the public.”

The city government said it has provided augmentation security personnel within the DIA compound to ensure the safety and security of passengers and the public, as it also disclosed that it recently turned over additional push carts.

“While we acknowledge that CAAP is preparing for the transition of airport management to the Davao International Airport Authority [DIAA], it must not fall short in delivering its mandate to maintain our airport,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the City Health Office (CHO) warned that it would be exacting fines and sanctions to violators of the Davao City Mosquito Borne Disease Protection and Control Program or City Ordinance 0401 (series of 2020).

CHO Tropical Division Head Melodina Babante said dialogues were now being conducted between the City Treasurer’s Office, City Legal Office and the Barangay and Cultural Communities Affairs Division in order to penalize residents whose homes or places of business are found to have mosquito breeding sites.

Under the city ordinance, the dumping of old tires and batteries, as well as uncovered plastic drums, water tanks and containers are prohibited as these can become breeding sites for dengue-carrying mosquitoes, the City Information Office said.

Failure to adhere mandates a P1,000 fine and a two-day community service for first-time offenders, a fine of P3,000 and a four-hour community service for the second offense; and a P5,000 fine and a four-hour community service for the third offense.

Babante said the implementation of the penalties is one of the methods by which the CHO is trying to curb dengue cases which spiked in 2023.

In 2022, Davao City logged 1,481 dengue cases which resulted in 21 deaths. In 2023, however, cases ballooned to 6,269 which led to 52 fatalities.

From January to April 18 this year, the CHO already recorded 1,140 dengue cases which led to the death of eight people. This is higher than the six deaths logged for the same period last year.

“Right now we challenge all barangays to create the said task force because for us in the Tropical Division, our everyday activity is to go to the barangays, even ones without reported cases of dengue,” Babante said.

Babante said only 32 out of the 182 barangays in the city have a Dengue Task Force that monitor the cleanliness of their respective areas and actively search and destroy mosquito breeding grounds. This means that it is usually left to the CHO, City Environment and Natural Resource Office and the Ancillary Services Unit to find and destroy breeding grounds of disease-carrying mosquitos in most barangays, she said.