 Concurrent though with the planning of the new airport , the Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA ) initiated a study on the master planning and long @-@ term development plans of four key domestic airports in the Philippines . The report cited Mandurriao Airport , Bacolod City Domestic Airport , Legazpi Airport and Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City as these key domestic airports , noting the high growth of passenger and cargo volume there and the eventual need for expansion . Heeding the recommendations of the JICA report , President Joseph Estrada signed a memorandum in November 1998 creating the Iloilo Airport Coordinating Committee , headed by Iloilo @-@ born senator Franklin Drilon . The coordinating committee decided that a new airport was needed for Iloilo City as Mandurriao Airport was deemed unexpandable due to operational obstacles and the presence of slums and other natural and civic structures that would restrict expansion efforts . In addition , the committee , objecting to the idea that the new airport would serve merely as a reliever for the new Bacolod airport , successfully lobbied for an international airport to be built in lieu of a domestic one . The project finally received NEDA approval in March 2000 , with Cabatuan as the location of the new airport based on a study performed by both the DOTC and the JICA later that year . 
