CIAC president wants authority over aviation complex

Clark International Airport Corp. president and chief executive Aaron Aquino expressed disappointment over the present set-up of CIAC, saying that private operator Luzon International Premier Airport Development Corp. is acting as more superior in terms of management and operations of the international airport.

"LIPAD had not been recognizing the authority of CIAC over the Clark Civil Aviation Complex as mandated by [Executive Order No.] 716,” Aquino said.

This developed as Aquino asked Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to grant CIAC oversight functions over Clark International Airport.

EO 716, which was issued by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, mandates CIAC to operate and manage the 2,367-hectare airport complex, according to Aquino.

President Duterte in 2017 gave the DOTr the policy supervision and operational control over CRK through EO 14.

CIAC was restructured from being an attached agency of the DOTr to a subsidiary of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.

Aquino on June 16 asked Tugade through a letter to make CIAC the “implementing arm of DOTr in the implementation of its oversight functions over the CRK operations.”

Aquino said CIAC had been excluded from the operation of CRK which had been privatized to Lipad.

He said CIAC did not receive any share of income that Lipad generated from a 25-year contract to operate and maintain CRK and to manage 810 hectares of the aviation complex from January 2019.

LIPAD CEO Bi Yong Chungunco said the DOTr granted the company the franchise to operate and maintain CRK. As such, LIPAD remained under the regulatory supervision of the DOTr, Chungunco told Aquino in a letter dated June 13.

Aquino requested DOTr for security control over the aviation complex, including issuing access passes.

He sent a letter to BCDA president Vince Dizon to ask that CIAC be given a 10-percent share from gross revenue received from the operation of CRK to “ensure the viability of CIAC.”