President orders opening of Central Mindanao airport

North Cotabato – President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the immediate completion of the mothballed Central Mindanao Airport here and asked Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go to source out funds for it.

During his recent visit here, where he turned over relief and financial aid to thousands of quake victims, the President said the airport must be opened and utilized.

The President issued the remark after Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chair Sec. Emmanuel

Piñol and North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco sought his intervention for the immediate operation of the airport here to boost economic development in mainland Mindanao.

With this, the President verbally asked his former assistant and now Senator Go to coordinate with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and source funds for the completion and operation of the airport.

In a statement on Thursday, Piñol said that he and Catamco had earlier briefed President Duterte on the actual status of the airport, also known as the M’lang airport.

The airport’s construction started in 2004 when Piñol was governor. The 1.8-kilometer runway and terminal building were completed in 2010.

Present when the President issued the instruction were Go, Department of the Interior and Local Government Sec. Eduardo Año, Department of Social Welfare and Development Sec. Rolando Joselito Bautista, National Housing Authority General Manager Marcelino Escalada Jr., M’lang Mayor Russel Abonado, Piñol, and Catamco.

The airport’s terminal building has been completed but the facility has not been operated because the provincial government of North Cotabato has not turned over the 62-hectare property to the DOTr.

The previous leadership, then under the provincial governor and now Vice Governor Emmylou Mendoza, cited “missing documents” as the reason behind their failure to turn over the project to the DOTr for completion and commissioning.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A group of cooperatives here has pooled resources together to put up their own water company to bring potable water to the city’s rural areas.

In a joint venture agreement signed Thursday, the Mindanao Cooperatives Water Service Federation (MCWS)--a group of cooperatives mainly based in Cagayan de Oro--and Kyogojo Engineering Service Cooperative (KESC) agreed to operate their own water system with an initial capital of P123 million.

The agreement seeks to expand the operations of KESC, which has been supplying water to some 2,300 households, mainly in the city’s upland areas that have not been served by the main water supplier—the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD).

“This is to prove that the people, and not huge

Catamco assured President Duterte that the provincial government will complete all the needed documents for the official turnover of the property to the DOTr.

Go said the operation of the airport is vital because it is located in a strategic area and will boost the economic growth of the Soccsksargen region where many agricultural products, including highly-perishable fruits, come from.

“I will talk to DOTr Secretary Art Tugade and I will help look for additional funding for the completion of the airport,” Piñol quoted the senator as saying.

Piñol said the senator also vowed to seek his colleagues’ support to fasttrack the completion and operation of the M’lang airport before 2022. (PNA)