By Jeannette I. Andrade, Inquirer News
A Negros Oriental congressman has proposed renaming Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) to “Ferdinand E. Marcos International Airport,” a move that, if given traction at the House, would signal how the political climate has drastically shifted with the results of the recent presidential elections.
In his House Bill No. 610, Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. said the country’s premier gateway should be named after the late father of President Marcos since “this project was done during the time of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’’
In his explanatory note, Teves said what was originally called Manila International Airport was renamed after the slain former senator and Marcos archcritic Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. in 1987 through Republic Act No. 6639 under then President Cory Aquino, the opposition leader’s widow. ‘Idea and execution’ Aquino Jr.’s assassination at the airport upon returning from exile on Aug. 21, 1983, set off three years of political unrest that led to Marcos Sr. calling for a snap election, ending in his downfall and Cory Aquino’s ascension to Malacañang through the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.
But according to Teves, “it is more appropriate to name it [after] the person who has contributed to the idea and execution of the said noble project. This project was done during the time of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.”
According to the website of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the agency operating Naia, the airport was originally a US Air Force base until 1948, when it was turned over to the Philippine government. Its facilities then were nothing more than the current domestic runway and a small building serving as a passenger terminal.
The international runway and associated taxiway were built in 1953, during the Magsaysay administration. The control tower and a terminal for international passengers were completed in 1961, under President Diosdado Macapagal, Marcos Sr.’s predecessor.
“The Seventies heralded a phenomenal upsurge in the country’s manpower exports and the Philippine tourism industry witnessed the quadrupling of international flight frequencies to Manila,’’ the Miaa website said. “In 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos promulgated Executive Order No. 381, authorizing the development of Manila International Airport to meet the needs of the coming decades,” it added. INQ
