May 10,2012 Resolution Needed For The Release Of Funds For Maasin Airport, Guadalupe Port By Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr. Maasin City, Southern Leyte-Willy Justimbaste suggested to Congressman Roger Mercado that concerned group .should ask the Sangguniang Panglunsod to pass a resolution requesting the new head of the Dept. of Transportation and Communication(DOTC) Mar Rojas to hasten the release of funds for the Maasin airport otherwise known as the Panan-awan airport and Guadalupe port. The suggestion raised a positive response from PIA’s Marcelo “Bong” Pedalino during the recent presscon,saying that his office will talk or send letter to the new DOTC Secretary for such purpose so that the aforesaid project could start. Earlier, Mercado disclosed that the funds for the Guadalupe port worth P40M were already releasesd, but it was not implemented by the Philippine Port Authority office. The same was true for the airport funds of P45M released in April 2011. However, like the G-port, this was not also implemented, perhaps due to the sudden change of command Mercado implied. The Representative of the lone district of Southern Leyte informed that the amount of P45M was for the construction of additional 800 meters to make the Maasin airport’s existing 1.2 Kilometers runway into 2 kilometers. “A 2-kilometer runway is the standard length required for PAL’s airbus 320 for its safe landing in Maasin”, he said. He claimed that when the Maasin airport will become operational next year, and has a regular Manila-Maasin flight, local and foreign tourists will be coming to Southern Leyte as another tourist destination. In like manner, when the Guadalupe port would be constructed soon and completed and become operational, ship owners in Hilongos, Leyte shall be docking at Guadalupe port to service sea travelers. According to a skipper who has experienced working overseas, Guadalupe to Cebu City port has shorter travel time of less than an hour, compared to ships in Hilongos or Bato that are bound for Cebu City. He added that ship owner Gabisan is interested to send his vessel to Guadalupe when the port project there would be realized. On the other hand, Mercado is strongly encouraging the city dwellers to attend the weekly Sangguniang Panglunsod session at city hall or the barangay folks whenever the SP weekly session is scheduled to be held in their respective districts. He stressed that as the inhabitants, it is very important that the concerned citizens in the city and in the barangays should know about some existing ordinances and the newly-enacted ordinances that are going to be implemented. Moreover, the Philippines Information Agency has formulated resolution no. 001-s.-2012 reflecting on the discussions to request the new DOTC Secretary for the quick release of funds for the 2 aforesaid projects. Copies were distributed to the Maasin media practitioners for their perusal and comments. Nevertheless, the PIA office did not receive any comment since all the newsmen unanimously approved it. The resolution will be send to Mar Roxas at the soonest possible time.(Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)