Court stops NAIA-2 ad space bid

MANILA, Philippines - A San Juan City court stopped the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) Friday from bidding out P126 million worth of advertising spaces at the Ninoy Aquino International Airprort Terminal 2 (NAIA-2).

The injunction was issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Leoncio Janolo Jr. in response to an appeal by Digichive Philippine Corp. (DPC), MIAA general manager Jose Angel Honrado said yesterday.

He said the MIAA board, which he heads, was supposed to use the proceeds from the sale of the ad spaces to improve NAIA-2.

The bidding was held in August 2012 after the MIAA’s five-year contract with DPC expired. Honrado said the MIAA earned an annual income of only P13.5 million from advertisements for the duration of the contract.

He said one bidder offered the MIAA an annual revenue of P126 million for the next three years, much higher than the P101.5-million bid offered by DPC.

The MIAA board favored the higher offer but the injunction prevented the board from awarding the contract to the winning bidder and paved the way for DPC to continue doing business at NAIA-2, Honrado said.

Honrado said the board estimates it will lose P88 million annually from potential advertising revenue as a result of the injunction. He added that the government lost a total of P440 million in potential advertising revenue over the past five years.  

“This huge sum could have helped fund major renovations and upgrading of facilities for all of the four passenger terminals managed by MIAA,” Honrado said. 

Malacañang approved last year the release of the P1.16 billion for the rehabilitation of NAIA Terminal 1 in a bid to make the airport a world-class facility after a travel website called it the worst airport in Asia in 2012.