By Mar S. Arguelles

LEGAZPI CITY?Mayor Noel Rosal has demanded the relief of all aviation staff and the police contingent at the airport following the near-collision between a Cebu Pacific plane and a van, which was on the runway as the turboprop was landing here Saturday afternoon, officials said Monday.

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano and his family were on the plane, which had come from Cebu with 88 passengers and crew and was about to touch down at 2:09 p.m. when the van appeared on the runway, forcing the pilot to pull up.

The van was being driven by Frisco Santo Domingo Jr., son of airport manager Frisco Santo Domingo Sr., who is also area manager of the Civil Aviation Authority, officials said.

They could not say why the van was there, but said they were looking into reports Santo Domingo Jr. was teaching his girlfriend how to drive.

The airplane?s pilot, Capt. Christopher Nowicki, a Frenchman, complained to aviation police as soon as he got off the aircraft.

He said he might have failed to abort the landing had the plane been a jet and not a propeller-driven one.

Durano would also file a complaint, officials said.

Santo Domingo Sr. refused to talk to reporters.

?The incident is a clear violation of air traffic safety measures, and it does not exempt him [Santo Domingo Jr.] just because he is the son of the airport manager,? said Rosal, who was at the airport with another tourism official to welcome Durano.

?Why should they allow the driver of the van to negotiate the runway, which is restricted??

Rosal said he had asked Transport Secretary Leandro Mendoza to investigate the incident, and to suspend all Civil Aviation personnel and the Aviation Security Group at the airport during the probe.