Gov’t urged to pursue case vs Alvarez, Chengs, Fraport

The government should pursue a plunder case against former Transportation Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez, the Chengs and the German Fraport Group since they were responsible for the anomalous Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 contract, former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Perfecto Yasay said.

Yasay, who is now the chairman and spokesman of the MIAA-NAIA Association of Services Operators (MASO), said the Chengs and the Fraport Group’s claim of extortion against Gloria Tan-Climaco is distorting the truth.

The truth, according to Yasay, is that the Chengs and Fraport were the first to engage in corruption when they bribed government officials and other facilitators to give them the airport contract which was originally intended for the taipans.

Yasay argued that the Chengs and Fraport’s claim of extortion does not change the fact that the contract was nullified by the Supreme Court. MASO, Yasay said, had earlier filed a plunder case with the Ombudsman against Alvarez, but that case was not pursued by government.

To be able to get to the truth, Yasay said, government should now seriously pursue a plunder case against Alvarez so that the truth could be revealed about how Jeffrey Cheng and his group were able to get the contract.

The Chengs and Fraport Group have refused the government’s offer to pay them only the actual cost for the construction of the NAIA Terminal 3 and nothing more.

Government is not willing to pay for any so-called "transaction or facilitation cost" for the NAIA-T3 especially since there are allegations of overpricing.

The Chengs and Fraport Group had initially appeared willing to talk to governmment, but has since decided to bring its case to an international body – the World Bank – for resolution and has also accused Tan-Climaco and the lawyer of President Arroyo of extortion.