Calayan Island Airport to open 2019

The construction of a new airport is about to be completed in barangay Dadao, municipality of Calayan Island, in Cagayan province. The new airport has a 1,000m long runway and was started (bidding) in September 2015 with an estimated cost of Php9.4 million which is part the Php241 million Airport Development Project of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC, now DOTr).  The construction of the new airport includes the development of apron area and shoulder grade correction. An airport apron is the parking area for aircraft, also for unloading, loading and refueling. It is likewise the space where passengers board the aircraft.

The municipality of Calayan Island is located in the north of Luzon Island in the Philippines and is composed of four islands of the Babuyan Islands namely: Calayan, Camiguin, Dalupiri and Babuyan Island.  Calayan Island being the biggest of the Babuyan Islands (Fuga Island, the 5^th Island in the Channel is part of the municipality of Aparri).

Calayan Island was established as a mission headquarters by the Spaniards in 1722. It was then part of Batanes group of Islands and was brought under the administration of Cagayan province in 1896. Calayan is politically subdivided into 12 barangays: Babuyan Claro, Balatubat, Cabudadan, Centro II, Dadao (site of the new airport), Dalupiri, Dibay, Dilam, Magsidel, Minabel, Naguilian and Poblacion/Centro I.

Calayan Island is presently accessible only by small outrigger boats called “Lampitaw” from Aparri, Claveria or San Vicente Port in Santa Ana and takes seven hours to reach Calayan if the sea is calm. The best time to travel to and from the Island is during the summer months April and May where tourism activities are most active.

Earlier, the Bagabag Airport in Nueva Vizcaya was recently opened for commercial flights The Calayan Airport in barangay Dadao would be the second airport to open in Cagayan Valley for the year 2017 under the “Build, Build, Build” program of the Duterte Administration. The P241.23 million project funded by the DOTr will eventually provide an alternative mode of transportation and increase tourist arrivals resulting to increased economic and tourism activities.

Northsky Air, operator of a fleet of six-seater airtaxi aircraft based in Tuguegarao has already signified its intention to include Calayan Island as one of their flight destinations after the opening the new airport. It is now working out the required permits in time for the start of regular operations of the airport.

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DAR grants Nabbotuan MPC Php257k for Muscovado sugar processing

     The Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office (DARPO) of Cagayan-Batanes led the ground breaking ceremony of the Nabbotuan Multi-Purpose Cooperative in barangay Nabbotuan, Solana, Cagayan wherein the later is a recipient of Two Hundred Fifty-Seven Thousand and Five Hundred pesos as funding for the construction/expansion of their Muscovado Sugar processing center under the DAR’s Village Level Processing Center and Enhancement Project (VLPCEP).

     The ceremony was also attended by the very supportive officials of the Local Government Unit of Solana headed by Mayor Jenalyn Carag. Barangay officials of Nabbotuan also warmly welcomed the project as an indication of increasing capacity of women and men to participate in, contribute to and benefit from growth processes in ways that recognise the value of their contributions, respect their dignity and making it possible to negotiate a fairer distribution of the benefits of growth vis-à-vis their local economy.

     Nabbotuan MPC is an agrarian reform organization (ARBO) within the FURABAN Agrarian Reform Community. The Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) Development Strategy was adopted in 1993 to focus on priority agrarian reform areas to maximize resource allocation, complementation, and mobilization for greater efficiency and impact taking into consideration the limited financial and material resources of the government.

      An ARC is a barangay or cluster of contiguous barangays within a municipality where majority of the CARP-covered lands have been awarded to a critical mass of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs).  The ARC strategy applies the integrated area development approach where the ARBs and their communities are the primary focal points of development interventions.

     Once completed, the processing center shall help increase the livelihood of the members of the cooperative.  They will process raw sugar into Muscovado sugar which commands a higher price due to its higher demand by reason of its health benefits.

     Muscovado sugar is the unrefined dark brown sugar that is more sticky and courser than the regular brown sugar. It is the instantaneous sugar created in crystallizing sugarcane juice. In contrast with other sugars, Muscovado sugar has a distinctive flavor and taste that retains the natural flavor and color of the sugarcane juice, as such it is also considered as the purest form of sugar. It also retains the natural nutrients such as calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, iron, zinc and other vitamins. It is also rich in phytonutrients, antioxidants, proteins, fiber, etc., with are usually destroyed by filtering, bleaching and heating during the production of the regular refined white sugar.

     The VLPCEP aims to develop market competitive Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) products and enhance enterprise and livelihood activities at the community level in selected agrarian reform areas through assistance in product value-adding, improvement of facilities, and assistance in documentation and Food and Drug Administration license application. The implementation of the project is part of the mandate of DAR to provide support services to ARCs.

     Under the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) executed between the DAR and the ARBO, the members of the cooperative shall manage and maintain the processing center, keep and maintain the recording system for the activity, and shall ensure the continuous production of Muscovado sugar as an additional business enterprise of the cooperative.  

See: photos on Facebook