Workers call for audit of NAIA-3 project cost

Aviation industry workers welcomed yesterday the planned buyout by the government of the German shares in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 project but called for the audit of project costs and prosecution of government officials who financially benefited from the contract.

Ed Oredina, secretary general of the Scrap the Piatco Deal Coalition (SCRAP), said the government should not forget that a number of government officials financially benefitted from the government-Philippine International Air Terminals Co. deal which was found to be highly disadvantageous and harmful to the country.

"Those responsible for the anomalous contract should be made to answer," Oredina said as he doubted the $657-million project cost quoted by Piatco. Oredina said the government should audit the expenses incurred in the project before finally agreeing to buy out the shares of Germany-based Fraport AG in Piatco. Fraport AG had agreed to be reimbursed only $400 million of its $509 million equity and advances to the project.

"We want to know who will shoulder the illegal payments made to Wintrack Builders, Inc., the company owned by former Transportation and Communications Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez; to Piatco consultant Alfredo Liongson as well as Piatco’s advertising and media expenses," he said.

Wintrack allegedly resorted to illegal means to defraud the government of millions of pesos, including bloating the measurement of the subterranean structures dug up from the onsite development of Terminal 3. Liongson, believed to be a dummy fronting for government officials and cronies involved in the project, was paid $100,000 monthly and huge sums of money for securing amendments to the concession agreement.

Oredina said Fraport’s decision to get out of the project indicated that the financial controversies have strained relations between Fraport and the Cheng family, the German company’s local partners.

Congressmen, airport service operators, labor groups and aviation workers had earlier revealed the existence of onerous and highly disadvantageous provisions in the displacement of existing concessionaires at the NAIA Terminals 1 and 2.

In a press conference last Friday, President Adviser on Strategic Projects Gloria Tan Climaco, who was tasked by President Arroyo to look into the contract, admitted that the present contract is lopsided in favor of Piatco.

She said while the government would be saddled with additional burdens, Piatco would be secure from any business risks. She added that the 1997 concession agreement was substantially different from the amended and restated concession agreement (ARCA) forged by the then Estrada government in 1998, reaffirming charges aired by the MIA-NAIA Service Operators (MASO).

Climaco said Fraport, which owns 30 percent of Piatco shares, actually shouldered about 80 percent of project costs, while the Cheng group, which owns 60 percent of Piatco, spent only $16.5 million of its own money and $6 million borrowed from Fraport.

Fraport has agreed in talks with the government to a repayment schedule of 15 years at an interest rate of 6.2 to 6.8 percent for the $400 million exposure it is giving up in favor of the government. She said the government would not be shelling out a single centavo since payment to Fraport would come from the winning bidder of the project, which it intends to undertake in 18 to 36 months from takeover.