Changing Iloilo Airport’s Name

by ALEX P. VIDAL

“The devil himself had probably redesigned hell in the light of information he had gained from observing airport layouts.” Anthony Price

We can’t blame the Iloilo-based Dr. Graciano Lopez Jaena Foundation and the National Historical Institute (NHI) which reportedly endorsed the foundation’s proposal to rename the Iloilo International Airport. It is their job to promote historical figures, edifices and places. It’s the job of politicians to oppose it.  

In the Philippines, politicians are the ones who propose and oppose. They filibuster and dilly-dally. They lobby and negotiate--and they always get what they want.  Politicians almost always have the final say. You may argue with fools but not with politicians. 

There are issues where politicians are viewed as unreliable, corrupt and veritable villains. Their motives are always suspect. History has been so unkind to them. From the Garcia arenola scandal to the Marcos hegemony, FVR Amari scam, Erap jueteng tumult, and Arroyo ZTE hullabaloo.  

Going back to the Iloilo airport. Gov. Art Defensor Sr. and Senate president Frank Drilon as well as regional tourism chief, Atty. Helen Camarista-Catalbas and Iloilo Business Club executive director Lea Lara are right when they simultaneously dismissed the proposal to rename the 188-hectare Japan-funded property, located 19 kilometers northwest of Iloilo City.

CONFUSION

“Let it stay that way,’’ thundered Defensor, Sr. Drilon warned that renaming the airport after a personality will create confusion among tourists and passengers. Camarista-Catalbas, quoted by the Philippines News Agency (PNA), said the airport which continues to receive direct international flights from Singapore and Hong Kong “is beginning to establish a name for itself, and changing ‘the horse in midstream’ may not help in the development of tourism in the region particularly in Iloilo province.”

PNA also quoted Lara as saying that the present name of the airport “has geographic value” and, therefore, the name “Iloilo” must be retained.

With four of the biggest personalities in Iloilo representing large groups in government and private sectors voicing out their collective stand against the proposal, the issue has become moot and academic. It is virtually dead.

Renaming a public place -- bridge, airport, building, street, obelisk, park, ocean -- is basically the job of legislators. Iloilo airport, located in the vicinities of Barangays Tabucan, Gaub, Duyan-Duyan and Manguna, with the airport access road also crossing the adjoining town of Santa Barbara, falls under the jurisdiction of the Cabatuan municipal council. It may need imprimatur or support from the municipal mayor, governor, representatives, and the president before it becomes a Tomas Confesor International Airport or Graciano Lopez-Jaena International Airport or whatever name the proponents would want to put forward.
MIA

When proponents moved to rename the Manila International Airport (MIA) to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in honor of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., who was assassinated at the airport after returning to the Philippines from his self-imposed exile in the United States on August 21, 1983, they were inspired by the renaming of New York’s Idlewild Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in honor of the assassinated American president. The project was renamed Major General Alexander E. Anderson Airport in 1943 after a Queen’s resident who commanded a Federalized National Guard unit in the southern United States and who died in late 1942. In March 1948 the New York City Council changed it to New York International Airport, Anderson Field, but the common name was “Idlewild” until 1963.

MIA became NAIA on August 17, 1987 by virtue of Republic Act No. 6639. 

The city and province of Iloilo were served by Mandurriao Airport, a city district, which had been in operation since 1937 prior to the construction of the Iloilo International Airport. It opened its doors to commercial traffic on June 14, 2007 after a decade of planning and construction. International flights to Hong Kong and Singapore were launched there in November 2012.

Japanese tourist, Koichi Shimura, a regular Iloilo visitor, described the Japan International Cooperation Agency funded airport as “just like the airports in Japan. Spacious, beautiful and very clean.”  /MP