TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PNA) — Bohol leaders are banking on the support of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III for the final completion of the Panglao-Bohol International Airport Development Project (PBIADP).

In connection, the Provincial Development Council (PDC), Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC), Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP), and League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP)-Bohol have passed a joint resolution earnestly requesting President Aquino his full support for the project.

Governor Edgar Chatto had earlier moved for passage of said resolution.

Chatto, who serves concurrently as PDC Chair, will preside over the first PDC meeting later this week in his residence in Del Carmen Weste, Balilihan. Said meeting will coincide with the town fiesta when the Bohol Governor will have a chance to host PDC members and show them what he means by  “administration of generosity.”

An update on the completion of the Panglao International Airport project is certain to be one of the “priority concerns” that Chatto intends to discuss with the new set of officials voted into office in the last June 30 elections.

Former Governor and now Rep. Erico Aumentado was in Manila last week to deliver a copy of the PDC resolution to the Office of the President in Malacañang.

He said he had also asked the most probable next Speaker of the House, Quezon City 4th District Rep. Feliciano Belmonte of the ruling Liberal Party, for his help in endorsing the project with President Aquino.

Aumentado traces his friendship with Belmonte since the time that he joined the Jaycees then under the presidency of the Quezon City solon. Both were also colleagues for nine years in Congress.

The Bohol Governor’s close ally, First District Rep. Rene Relampagos is also seen as having an edge in getting administrative support for the Panglao airport project for being the first Boholano-elected official to transfer affiliation to LP after the elections.

The provincial leaders see said airport project as being in “extremely long gestation.” Started two decades ago, the project has yet to be completed. Completion is targeted for next year.

In the resolution passed by the PDC, the Council pointed out that the necessity for having the international airport in Panglao Island “has long been expressed across many sectors and stakeholders in the Boholano community, and its urgency is evidenced not just by the exponentially increasing tourist arrivals…, but also by the congestion of passengers and planes in the current Tagbilaran Airport, as well as its hazardous landing conditions, being located right in the midst of residential and commercial districts.”

The PDC also noted that the project was already about to be awarded to a winning bidder in the last days of the Arroyo administration and Chatto’s provincial administration intends to get the assurance of President Aquino’s support to have the project finally realized.