Officials in EV give positive feedback on DZR Airport upgrading in SONA

TACLOBAN CITY – Officials from this region gave positive feedback over the latest State of the Nation Address(SONA) of President Benigno Aquino particularly when he mentioned that the Tacloban DZR Aiport is among the airports in the country that is to be upgraded. An Waray party-list Representative Neil Benedict Montejo, among officials in the region who has been continuously asking help from the government in providing funds for the continuation of the airport upgrading,said that he is happy that finally the President declared on the rehabilitation of the DZR Airport. DZR Aiport is the 7th busiest airport in the country with 18 daily flights servicing Cebu and Manila routes. “Our effort was not wasted,” said Montejo, referring to the series of talks and follow-ups they made before the Department of Transportation and Communications. The actual work may start before the year ends, Montejo said. Initial budget allocated by the government for the upgrading, according to Montejo is P200 million. “But Secretary (Rene) Limcauco said that they will also do a re-alignment of funds for additional funding of the upgrading and improvement of the DZR airport to ensure that works will continue until their target date which is on 2014,” he added. Tacloban City council member and committee on tourism chair Cristina Romualdez said that it was the best part of Mr. Aquino’s SONA. She said that a better airport would boost the campaign of the city government to make Tacloban as a venue for national conferences.“We hope that this will be implemented as soon as possible for it is not only the city of Tacloban but the entire region that will benefit when this upgrading(of the airport) is done,” she added. Meanwhile, Councilor Jerry “Sambo” Yaokasin said that this is already the answer of their query on when the government will continue the rehabilitation of the DZR Airport. “Flights continuously are added in the airport and the number of airlines providing services at DZR is also increasing in the past years, which is an indication that our airport is one of the gems that contributes to our economy,” said Yaokasin. “We hope that this is not only good for SONA,” he added.