Duterte’s rush job: P486-M Sangley Airport

SOON TO TAKE OFF The former US base Sangley in Cavite City is undergoing a transformation, on the watch of President Duterte’s infrastructure program, into a P486-million airport aimed at decongesting Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City. —PHOTOS BY RICHARD A. REYES

(First of two parts)

CAVITE CITY, Cavite, Philippines — Sangley Point, a trading post for Spanish galleons and a military base  once held by United States naval forces, will open its doors in November, this time to civilian aircraft under an urgent P486-million government airport project.

Many feel that an airport will spur economic activity in this city in Cavite province, where progress had stalled after the Americans left 48 years ago.

In a few months, people expect to see private jets, fish runs (small planes delivering fresh marine products from the provinces), and cargo planes in and out of a peninsula jutting out into the Manila Bay and inhabited by at least 100,000.

It may handle domestic flights, too, in the future, plus a point-to-point passenger bus service and ferry trips that will reduce the 27-kilometer distance between Sangley and SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City into a mere 18-to-24 minute drive.

Intent of meeting deadline

But expansion, other than the 3.6-hectare general aviation airport currently under construction, remains to be seen, with everyone intent on meeting the November deadline set by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Right now, our concentration is really just on building this [airport],” said Gil Pamatmat, project management officer of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the agency implementing the Sangley airport project.

According to Malacañang, the President is “in a hurry” to transfer domestic flights out of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), the country’s main gateway. A lightning storm that struck and delayed dozens of flights at Naia in June seemed to have been the main spark to speed up construction.

The transfer had to be done  months earlier than the supposed target date of March 2020. Since last month, between 40 and 70 personnel have been working day and night, and government officials are optimistic they can finish the project on time.

The DOTr said passenger traffic at Naia already reached 45 million last year, way above the airport’s designed capacity of 30.5 million.

To help ease congestion at Naia, Sangley will have to cater to general aviation or noncommercial aircraft, freight turboprops and commercial turboprops, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) said.

“It’s really the call of the airlines [to relocate],” said Eric Apolonio, spokesperson for the state aviation agency.

Companies like Philippine Airlines, AirAsia and Cebu Pacific have recently committed to moving their turboprops to Sangley.

There are about 50 flights of general aviation a day at Naia, competing with the bigger planes for runway time and terminal slots at the airport, according to Caap.

Giovanni Lopez, DOTr assistant secretary for procurement and project implementation, said the President’s “marching orders” to build Sangley airport in order to decongest Naia were clear.

Tugade instruction

Quoting Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade’s instructions to “expedite [construction] without sacrificing safety,” Lopez said he and his staff would comply though they were “a bit surprised” by the rush.

Unimasters Conglomeration Inc., the same company that improved the Calbayog City airport in Samar province, is “very supportive” of the government’s move to fast-track the project, he said.

As “proof of compliance,” Unimasters has increased its manpower and equipment without charging additional costs to the government.

Rehabilitation

As of June 13, 53 percent of the project had been accomplished, according to the DOTr.

HALFWAY DONE One of the two hangars under construction at the Sangley site. According to the Department of Transportation, the airport project is 53-percent complete.

The project, funded through the 2017 General Appropriations Act, involves the construction of two hangars, a maintenance building, a powerhouse, a pumping station, two cistern tanks, two guardhouses and a passenger terminal building with a seating capacity of 160.

It will fortify an existing seawall, install a drainage system, and put up perimeter fences around the airport nestled in a low-to-average-income neighborhood and military housing.

The apron (30,000 square meters) can accommodate six turboprops at any given time, Lopez said.

Pipeline project

The single 2.4-km runway, built by the Americans after World War II, has been “rehabilitated” with a fresh asphalt overlay. For now, it can only accommodate the 70- to 80-seater Q400s or ATR 72-500s and 72-600s jets.

While it can handle Airbus 320, normally used to carry passengers, Caap said airlines might have issues landing them at Sangley.

Once completed, the Sangley airport, one of the “pipeline projects” of the Duterte administration, is comparable with the San Vicente airport in northern Palawan province, which opened last year. It may  be one of the fastest built among the 17 airports expanded or improved so far under this administration.

Actual construction, which started only on Jan. 17, was delayed for nearly a year as the contractor needed first to clear away heaps of garbage, 70,948.49 cubic meters to be exact.

The trash might have come from residential areas or swept in from the Manila Bay. “In most parts, the garbage pile was taller than an average person’s height,” Lopez said.

Land swap

The airport site (3.6 ha) occupies only a fraction of the 138-ha Sangley Naval Air Base that sprawls across two villages, Yakal A and B. It was also the same site used for the shelved Santa Barbara missile project of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

In September 1971, a letter from the US Embassy formalized the turnover of the military base to the Philippine government, ending 73 years of American presence in this city.

The Philippine Navy’s Fleet Command, its headquarters called the Heracleo Alano Naval Station, has since occupied Sangley along with the 15th Strike Wing of the Philippine Air Force (PAF). In 1992, the PAF base was renamed Major Danilo Atienza Air Base, after a squadron leader whose plane crashed during the 1989 coup attempt.

‘Historically’ significant

The two military units also share the runway, particularly for training flights.

Capt. Marc Aerone Paul Imperio, Naval Installation Command spokesperson, said the Sangley base was not only “strategically” important for the military but also “historically” significant for Cavite City.

“There are a lot of really old buildings, some built way back the American-Spanish time. [Sangley] also houses El Varadero [de Manila], the oldest dry dock in Asia,” he said, noting that the area could be a “tourist spot at the doors of an airport.”

In 2012, the government came up with an interagency agreement to “swap” the Major Danilo Atienza Air Base (70 ha) with the old Lumbia Airport (113 ha) in Cagayan de Oro City.

Long overdue

The land deal, which came with a P1-billion “replication” fund, allowed the PAF to start relocating its base after airport operations were transferred from Lumbia to Laguindingan town in Misamis Oriental province in 2013.

Once the PAF moves out of Sangley, there will be more room for airport expansion, although Pamatmat, the project management officer, said this might not happen anytime soon as construction at Lumbia was still ongoing.

He said there were also plans to take 8 ha off the Navy’s property.

Construction of the Sangley airport may take only 10 months, but it took two decades, five presidents and proposals on and off the table before things got into full swing.