Local officials divided on allowing a US military station in Cagayan De Oro

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 18): Local officials divided on allowing a US military station in Cagayan De Oro

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Two top local officials have expressed opposing views on the prospect of allowing a United States army station to operate in this trading hub of Northern Mindanao.

The two local officials were referring to the Lumbia Airport here, which commercially ceased to operate after the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental opened on June 2013.

“I would not allow a US military station in Lumbia Airport,” Rufus Rodriguez, of Cagayan De Oro, told the Philippines News Agency.

Rodriguez said that the 400-hectare Lumbia airport has been identified as the city’s new local government center where the offices of the city government would be relocated in the future.

City Mayor Oscar Moreno said in a radio interview that he is willing to lease the area to a US military station since the presence of the military forces would perk the local economy.

Former City Mayor Vicente Emano has hinted the relocation of the current location of the City Hall to a much wider area that could be transformed into a “local government center.”

Emano has pushed for the relocation of the present site of the City Hall complex because the area is prone flood every time the Cagayan De Oro River swells.

The three officials, Rodriguez, Emano, and Moreno are locked in a three-cornered mayoral fight in the scheduled midterm local elections in May this year.

The Lumbia airport is currently home to the Philippine Air Force (PAF) Tactical Operation Group in Northern Mindanao. The city government owns the airport.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=847740