NEWSFLASH

Iloilo City, Aug. 28, 2000 - The development of Iloilo province will be hastened with the signing of a P13.89-billion loan package last week, which will finance, among other projects, the development of the Iloilo airport to assure more efficient transportation in Western Visayas.

The package, signed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. and Japanese Ambassador Yoshihisa Ara, forms the second batch of projects financed by the Obuchi Fund.

"The economic development of the whole province of Iloilo will be hastened now that the first step in the construction of an international airport in the region is accomplished," Senate President Franklin Drilon said.

The project, which Drilon has consistently pushed, involves the construction of a new domestic trunkline airport in Santa Barbara-Cabatuan, about 19 kilometers north of Iloilo City.

Under the loan package, the Japanese will provide P5.258 billion of the P6.187 billion needed for the airport project. The remaining P928 million will be included in the budget of the Department of Transportation and Communications.