The House of Representatives on Monday night approved on second reading a bill renaming Clark International Airport in Pampanga to Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in honor of the late President Diosdado Macapagal.
House Bill 8549, principally authored by Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr., said it is but fitting to name the airport in honor of former President Diosdado Macapagal, a Filipino with a sterling legacy and incomparable distinction as a “respected leader, champion of the poor, true statesman, and a nationalist of unquestionable integrity.”
Stressing the primacy of the airport in aviation and the international air transportation community, Andaya said Clark International Airport is the most viable and convenient airport of choice for travelers from North and Central Luzon and the Northern Metro Manila area.
On July 27, 2018, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Pampanga issued Resolution 5124 entitled “A Resolution Urging His Excellency President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and both Houses of Congress to Issue a Presidential Proclamation and Appropriate Legislation, Respectively, Reverting or Renaming the Clark International Airport Located at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga to Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.”
Meanwhile, on the occasion of the 108th birthday of the late former president last September, the present Board of Directors of the Clark International Airport approved a resolution renaming the airport as Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.
Macapagal is the father of former President and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and considered as one of the great sons of the province of Pampanga.
Macapagal, popularly known as the “poor boy from Lubao,” imbued in his family the same values that endeared him to the nation.
He was the ninth President of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth Vice-President, serving from 1957 to 1961. He also served as a Member of the House of Representatives and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970.
The bill mandates the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to place appropriate markers on the airport and its facilities and issue the necessary orders and circulars to implement the provisions of the Act.