TACLOBAN CITY- House Minority Floor Leader Marcelino Libanan said that the improvements at the Borongan Airport would continue as he disclosed that an additional P200 million was earmarked for this purpose.
Libanan, who is a party-list representative of 4Ps, said that amount has been included under this year’s general appropriations.
“The amount of P200 million has been earmarked in the 2024 General Appropriations Law to build up the infrastructure of Borongan Airport,” Libanan said on Tuesday (Jan.2) in a press statement.
The airport has just resumed its operations using the Manila-Cebu-Borongan flight in December of 2022, and is located at the city’s Punta Maria Road, 21 kms away from the city proper.
“The airport’s improvement will facilitate the transfer of people and goods, and help bring in more tourists,” Libanan, who once served as the lone congressional representative of Eastern Samar and authored for the conversion of Borongan into a city, said.
“Our goal is to increase the airport’s capacity to accommodate more commercial flights,” he added.
Libanan said that further improvements and an increase of passengers, he expects more airline companies would come in and operate at the Borongan Airport.
At present, only Philippine Airlines is operating at the said airport.
“We look forward to other airlines operating flights in and out of Borongan,” Libanan said.
At present, the airport is undergoing a 200-meter extension of its 1.3 kms runway to accommodate bigger planes.
Libanan, meanwhile, credited the Borongan City government led by Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda for aggressively promoting sports tourism.
“We all want Borongan to become the surfing capital of Visayas,” Libanan said.
Last month, the city hosted a national surfing competition attended by more than 150 surfers from across the country.
(JOEY A. GABIETA/ROEL T. AMAZONA)
