Lawmaker targets P1B to complete Pag-asa Island runway in 2025

Rep. Elizaldy Co OFFICE OF ELIZALDY CO MEDIA AFFAIRS

MANILA, Philippines — Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co said they are looking to set aside another P1 billion in the 2025 national budget to complete the airstrip in Pag-asa Island by 2025, as the government looks to let military aircraft — and possibly commercial planes for tourism — land in the area.

Co in an ambush interview on the sidelines of the Lakas-CMD and Partido Ferderal ng Pilipinas merger on Wednesday said that military planes like C-130 which can carry goods and personnel cannot land on the area until the runway is stretched to 1.5 kilometers.

READ: New Pag-asa Island station to get more tech for watching China

Co heads the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations, which is tasked to review the budget submitted by the executive branch.

Finish the 1.5 kilometer runway

“Yes, with the runway on Pag-asa Island […] we put up this year mga almost P800 million or P1 billion, but that is not enough, we need another P1 billion to finish the 1.5 kilometer (runway) because it’s only one kilometer right now, the C-130 cannot land,” Co said in a mix of English and Filipino.

READ: House seeking budget for Pag-asa Island: P4.8-B secret funds not enough 

“And also if it’s military, I hope we can also use it for commercial (purposes) so that it would be an area for tourism. So if we can transform it into tourism at least we can claim back what the government invested on it, because the islands there look like the Maldives,” he added.

The budget season for the House, or the time when the chamber scrutinizes the executive’s National Expenditures Program (NEP) for the next calendar year, usually starts in August, after the president’s State of the Nation Address (Sona).

In 2023, the House got the P5.768 trillion proposed budget for 2024 from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on August 2, which was one of the earliest submissions. No less than Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez lauded the agency for being on-time, as it gives the House the capacity to scrutinize the budget even more.

READ: House gets P5.768-T proposed 2024 budget from DBM

According to Co, they have already asked agencies to report to them their disbursement rates or the amount of the 2024 budget which was already used.

“We have already called for the agencies because as of now the proposed budget is not with us, it would arrive shortly after the Sona.  So we called on the agencies to check their disbursement rates, and to know what they need to fix so that we can address them and coordinate with DBM (Department of Budget and Management),” he said.

“The funds we placed for Pag-asa are lacking, we want to finish the runway, provide facilities for the shoal near it […] We would also place a shelter so that seafarers or fisherfolk can stop by in case of typhoons,” he added.

In 2023, the discussions on the proposed budget became controversial after the House decided to strip civilian agencies with no mandate to do surveillance, their respective confidential funds. Part of the agencies affected were the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education — two offices under Vice President Sara Duterte.

Romualdez, Co, and other House officials said the removed confidential funds were transferred into projects within the West Philippine Sea. However, the House leadership admitted later on that the total deducted confidential funds were not even enough to satisfy different needs in the area — whose ownership is being disputed by the Philippines and China.