NEWS

By Andrea Taguines | ABS-CBN News | August 08, 2025

MANILA — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Department of Tourism (DOT) on Friday led the groundbreaking for the new Siargao Airport passenger terminal building which is seen to increase the capacity of the gateway by nearly 4 times.

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DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon said with the new terminal, the pre-departure seating capacity of the airport will be increased to 750 passengers from the current 200.

Six additional check-in counters will also be added, to provide more comfort and convenience to passengers.

The project is expected to be completed by early next year.

“Dahil modular lang naman yung expansion, ibig sabihin mabilis siya pero nakita niyo naman napakaganda, napakamaaliwalas. Hopefully in 8 months tapos na,” said Dizon.

“Just in time dahil next year alam niyo naman magho-host tayo ng ASEAN (Summit), marami nanamang mga turista, mga bisitang darating so kailangan handa na tayo doon,” he added.

PRICEY AIR FARES

Dizon said he and Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco will also work on lowering the prices of tickets going to Siargao, which is considered the surfing capital of the Philippines.

“Ipapatawag namin yung mga airline companies kasi talagang napakamahal ng presyo ng ticket papuntang Siargao so kailangan may gawin tayo dyan. Hindi pwedeng tatanggapin na lang natin na P20,000/P25,000 ang presyo, mas mahal pa kaysa pumunta ka ng Japan o Hong Kong,” he said.

But ultimately, Dizon said the solution to this problem is expanding the runway of the airport.

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“Ang makakapagpababa talaga nang malaki sa air fare, pag pinahaba na natin ang runway ng Siargao para pwede na ang mga jet doon. Kasi ngayon puro turboprop, 70 people lang per plane. Kapag jet na, aabutin ka na ng 300 so siyempre yung economics nun magbabago,” he explained.

But he admitted that this would take a long time to do, especially given the environmental challenges such a project would entail.

Dizon also said that runway expansion is not part of the unsolicited proposal submitted by the Gokongwei Group and the Filinvest Group to rehabilitate the Siargao airport.

“Parang ang runway expansion gobyerno ang kailangan gagawa kasi mahal yun e tsaka baka hindi ma-recover nung private sector proponent… Ang importante naman doon sa PPP (Public-Private Partnership) proposal ay yung operations and maintenance kasi alam niyo naman, maraming challenges kapag gobyerno ang nag-ooperate,” he said.

Source: ABS CBN News

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