Solve flooding before airport rehab, Baguio execs told

RUNWAY DEBRIS A section of Loakan Airport’s runway is covered by mud and debris after Typhoon “Ompong” hit Baguio City in September last year. —RICHARD BALONGLONG

BAGUIO CITY—Before upgrading Loakan Airport here, residents of a neighboring village have asked the city government to first solve flooding traced to a wall that separates houses from the runway.

In a petition, residents of Barangay Loakan Proper said floods had damaged 11 houses and an apartment building outside the airport when Typhoon “Ompong” struck last year.

Modernization

Flooding could worsen if the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) proceeds to raise the airport wall by more than 1.82 meters (6 feet), they said.

The CAAP was preparing to modernize the airport built in the 1930s.

Ramon Ramos, Loakan airport officer in charge, had informed barangay residents that three airlines had expressed interest in using the airport.

Unprepared

The residents said they did not object to the airport upgrade but had asked the government to first determine if the 2018 flood was caused by the airport wall or the drains of the access road there.

They said close to 60 houses near the airport were vulnerable to floods.

“Floods did not affect the community before Ompong struck on Sept. 15 last year, so residents were unprepared when water cascaded from the surrounding mountains which were struck by landslides,” Andrew Carantes, a resident, said.

“At the height of the flooding and [due to] the urgency of the situation, the residents had to open holes in the airport wall to drain the rising water [it had] trapped,” said the petition.

The residents suspected design flaws in the drainage canals when the access road was widened last year. Mud from landslides may have also affected the canals, which needed to be dredged first, they said. —Vincent Cabreza