I will continue to write about this airport project in today's column because I had the opportunity to talk to two Congressmen from Eastern Visayas last week and got some related information.

The two are Cong. Roger Mercado of Southern Leyte (who was assistant Secretary of DOTC before winning his re-election bid last year) and Cong. Harlin Abayon of Northern Samar .

Both of them agreed that the project has to push through and fully understood the dire implications if it is cancelled.

They were present in the meetings of the State Universities and Colleges of Region VIII held last week at the Leyte Normal University .

They agreed to the idea that all the regions Representatives in Congress meet as a group and strategize how the P600 million counterpart fund for this project can be included in the 2007 national government budget.

I promised to give them a briefing on the economic impact of the project in their districts given the fact that this tourism-related project has a regional significance.

Cong. Remedios Petilla of the first district of Leyte (where the airport is located) is abroad and could not attend the meetings.

I stressed to both Congressmen that if this project is cancelled, it will take a long time for it to be revived. Foreign-assisted projects take at least 5 years from planning to implementation.

The good news for now is that DOTC has not officially called for its cancellation, but almost did so. Unofficially I was told that no one at the DOTC had the “courage” to sign the request for cancellation.

If political pressure is exerted at the right time this project may still be pushed through in 2007.