“The thunder of the last plane was reverberating in my heart,” Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday recalled, as he stood at the tarmac of the Bacolod Airport to watch the last flight of Philippine Airlines leave Bacolod for Manila at about 7 p.m. , before the airport was closed.

It was the same plane that he had boarded in Manila to return to Bacolod yesterday that touched down at the Bacolod Airport at about 5:55 p.m.

Asked how he felt about the closure of the airport upon his arrival, Leonardia said it must be like the feeling of a patient awaiting the amputation of one of his body parts, and he felt sad.

He said he was born in Bacolod and his first flight was here and so with his children, and he believes most of the people in Bacolod feel the same way. “Nevertheless, while I am sentimental about it, I am still trying to work for its reopening,” he said.

Leonardia said they will make an urgent appeal to the officials concerned not to remove the equipment at the Bacolod Airport .

Rodlofo “Babes”Alvarez, of the Retain Bacolod Airport Movement, said he believes there is a very good chance that the Bacolod Airport will be re-opened because the Mayor is very supportive, as well as, PAL president Lucio Tan, the owner of the 20-hectare property, who is in favor that his property will continue to be operated as an airport.

Alvarez said they just have to convince the President, through the petition of the people, to reopen the Bacolod Airport .

Leonardia said that after the closure of the airport, they will continue the improvements and progress of Bacolod City .

FACILITIES SECURED

Bacolod police director Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar said they held a meeting after the Mayor requested them to help secure the facilities in the airport in coordination with the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Aviation Security Group, once it is closed.

He said the DOTC welcomes their assistance because some of its personnel will be transferred to the airport in Silay together with members of the ASG.

MAYOR SNUBBED?

Leonardia said he personally does not mind if he was not among the officials included in the inauguration rites program at the New Bacolod-Silay Airport today, when asked for his comment.

It's just interesting because the name of the airport is Bacolod-Silay Airport , he said, and that it is but natural that the Governor, Vice Governor, including the Mayor and Congressman of Silay should be there.

Leonardia said he doesn't know why the Congressman of Bacolod is there while the Mayor is not. Maybe it is a reward for the Congressman of Bacolod because he was one of those who pushed for the transfer of the airport from Bacolod to Silay, he added.

He also noted that Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella is more interested in building the highway from Bacolod to Talisay to Silay, which is a very long and expensive highway, than in the retention of the Bacolod Airport .

However, Leonardia said he intends to be at the inauguration of the airport in Silay as a private citizen and a concerned citizen since he is also a client of PAL, Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines . He also clarified that he was not the Mayor when the decision to transfer the Bacolod Airport was made.

Meanwhile, Puentevella said he is only an invited guest as Transportation and Communications chairman of Congress and that he does not even know what is in the program. “If I have a role tomorrow I will request them to give it to Mayor Bing,” he said.

HISTORY AS JUDGE

Leonardia said that in the end only history will judge them. Our people will always remember who are the officials who engineered the transfer of the airport from Bacolod to another place and the officials who were always for the retention of the airport in Bacolod City , he said.

He said he hopes the airport will be reopened because it would be very convenient to the people of Bacolod and it will enhance the city's economy. This is aside from other potentials like opening it for a training school for pilots that could boost tourism and could really put Bacolod in the map, he said.

On the other hand, Leonardia said he told the people at City Hall to take a good look at the vendors at Bacolod Airport who will be displaced. “Probably we will encourage them to form cooperatives so they will have livelihood opportunities,” he said.*CGS

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