Bataoil wants Airport to be Converted like Iloilo’s Business District

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – In case the national government approved the conversion of the old airport of the capital town here, its mayor wanted to emulate the “Iloilo City’s Experience” in economically transforming its old airport to a thriving business hub.

“We will follow the Iloilo experience. Ang sinasabi nila doon old airport nila ang ginawa nilang commercial district. Now you’ll see beautiful commercial establishments and even five – star hotels in the areas. Investors, locators, foreign investors, and local investors andoon sila. Ang ganda!” Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil said.

The Iloilo Business Park is situated where the old airport was located in Iloilo City’s Mandurriao district. Photo and texts credit: Watchmen Daily Journal

He said how the southern city transformed immensely when the country’s mammoth commercial firms’ Megaworld Corporation, Ayala Land, SM Prime Holdings' SM Iloilo Complex; and Gaisano Group of Companies started in 2007 to relocate in Manduriao.

Bataoil wanted the old airport transferred to the 184 hectares’ real properties in the western barangays here because of a presidential decree that could host it and the acquiescence of former House Speaker Joe de Venecia to donate a large portion of his lands there for the construction of the new airport.

The former police general said that the present airport located in Barangay Libsong endangers the safety of bigger aircraft and their passengers because of the cross wind.

The airport is located near the shoreline of Lingayen Gulf.

Cross wind means a strong wind that blows across the direction that vehicles, boats, or aircraft are travelling in, and that makes it difficult for them to keep moving steadily forward. (Collins Dictionary)

“If we relocated the existing airport because the airport is not compliant with the specific of commercial or even domestic airport therefore we have to – if you asked me – will recommend it in fact I recommended it to the DOTR (Department of Transportation) the relocation of the said airport because it’s being used for training purposes na lang”.

The conversion of the old Iloilo Airport resulted to Megaworld Corporation’s procurement of 72-hectare (180-acre) of the Iloilo Business Park; Ayala Land’s occupation of 32-hectare (79-acre) at the Atria Park District; SM Prime Holdings' SM Iloilo Complex; and Gaisano Group of Companies’s providing 16-hectare (40-acre) Iloilo City Center. South of the Atria Park District is the Smallville Business Complex, Iloilo's nightlife capital and a popular dining and entertainment hub. These townships are adjacent to each other, resulting in the formation of a single large CBD in one area being named Iloilo Midtown CBD.

Mandurriao, Wikipedia cited, also has the highest concentration of high-rise buildings in Iloilo City. Besides the high structures, it has a remarkable aesthetic and a reputation as the central amusement hub of the metro. Trade and commerce continue to soar in the district. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies, upscale hotels, residential towers, large malls, parks, and offices are sprouting everywhere within the district.