A panel in the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved two measures renaming Clark International Airport in Pampanga to Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in honor of the late President Diosdado Macapagal.
In 2001, the Board of Directors of the Clark International Airport Corp. named the airport after Macapagal.
But 10 years later, the same corporation adopted a resolution reverting the name of the airport to Clark International Airport in 2011.
The House committee on transportation, chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, approved House Bills 2274 and 8289, authored by Representatives Aurelio Gonzales of Pampanga and Rodante Marcoleta of SAGIP party-list, respectively.
The two bills noted that CIA should be named after Macapagal, the ninth President of the Philippines, known as “the poor boy from Lubao,” given the vital role of the airport in aviation and transportation. The late President Macapagal is the father of Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
“[Macapagal] is a Filipino with sterling legacy and incomparable distinction as a respected leader, champion of the poor, true statesman, and a nationalist of unquestionable integrity,” HB 8289 said.
In 2001, the Board of Directors of the Clark International Airport Corp. named the airport after Macapagal.
But 10 years later, the same corporation adopted a resolution reverting the name of the airport to Clark International Airport in 2011.
Earlier bills filed in the past Congresses noted it was the Americans who renamed Clark Air Base in honor of a foreign aviation pioneer Major Harold Clark of the US Army Signal Corps who died in a seaplane crash in Panama Canal in 1919.
Other installations named after Americans have been changed in honor of Filipinos.
Republic Act 9400, also known as “An Act Amending Republic Act No. 7227, As Amended, Otherwise Known As The Bases Conversion And Development Act Of 1992, And For Other Purposes,” this officially recognized the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.
“Under this law, Clark was turned into a Freeport [Section 15] with the same investment incentives enjoyed by investors at the Subic Bay Freeport, with Clark Development Corp. as administrator of the Clark Freeport and its subsidiary, Clark International Airport Corp. [CIAC] which is running the DMIA by virtue of Executive Order 193, series of 2003,” the House transportation committee said.