Cebu fifth district Rep. Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Tourists and residents may soon be able to access Camotes Islands by plane, cutting off the long travel time from mainland Cebu to the island group in Cebu’s northeast.
Cebu fifth district Representative Duke Frasco has recently passed a bill for the establishment of a domestic commercial airport on the island group which is seen to boost economic activities there.
At present, the only means of transport to the island group, where the municipalities of San Francisco, Pilar, Poro, and Tudela are located, remain to be by the sea.
The changing sea currents, Frasco said, made traveling to and from the island challenging and unpredictable.
“The difficulty in accessing the area has been a major hindrance to its economic development and the upliftment of the lives of people living there,” Frasco said in a statement on Sunday.
The island group of Camotes is among the tourist destinations in Cebu province that recently reopened following the downgrade of the province’s quarantine classification to a modified general community quarantine.
If passed into law, Frasco’s proposed bill would enable funding for the establishment, operation, and maintenance of the airport facility which would be included in the national budget in line with the “Build, Build, Build!” program of the administration.
The proposed Camotes Cebu Domestic Airport will have a 1.8 -kilometer airstrip. There is currently an airstrip on a lot owned by the provincial government in San Francisco town, but this has not been used for the operation of a commercial airport on the island yet.
“The construction of the new airport will bring progress to Camotes, and will reinforce its potential as the new tourism powerhouse of Cebu. This will in turn benefit the economy,” Frasco said.
The establishment of the Camotes airport, Frasco added, would decongest the Mactan Cebu International Airport and would increase Cebu’s capacity to accommodate more air traffic./dbs