DOTr allocates P6 billion to develop Kalibo Airport

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has allocated around P6 billion for the improvement and expansion of the Kalibo International Airport (KIA).

The budget is intended to make the KIA the premier gateway of Northern Panay and neighboring areas. Among those to be funded are the construction of the new full-service terminal, construction of new apron and taxiways, among other developments.

Aklan Gov. Florencio T. Miraflores said he hopes the acquisition of the land surrounding the KIA will be fast-tracked so the massive development could commence.

“The government is already offering P600 per square meter of farm lands to the tenants. The amount is enough for them. I wonder why the affected farmers are asking as high as P5,000 per sq m for a mere farm land,” he said.

Earlier, the DOTr said around 90 percent of the overall land acquisition has been already paid.

German Baltazar, one of the affected farmers, said their group is asking for a higher amount since the government will not only take their land for airport improvement; the government is also taking away their means of livelihood.

“If ever we accept the P600-per-sq-m amount for the sale of our farmlands, how can we use the amount to survive? We are not opposing the airport development. We only want to paid fairly,” he said.

Baltazar added farmers tilling the land at the proposed KIA development has filed a case at the Ombudsman-Visayas against the chief of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap)-Kalibo for its failure to craft a resettlement plan for the affected farmers.

In a document, Evangeline Nunal, officer in charge of the Ombudsman-Western Visayas, said respondent Efren Nagrama, chief of Caap-Kalibo, should answer the farmers’ allegations.

Nagrama has refused to comment on the issue.