At the sidelines of a legal forum held yesterday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo L. Neri said the perception of the judiciary declaring contracts void has deterred businessmen from investing in the country.
"The NAIA will cost us about $300 million to $400 million a year in terms of investments, foreign investments especially, because they (investors) see NAIA as an example of how we deal with investments fairly or unfairly," he said.
In 2003, the contract between the government and the Philippine International Air Terminals Corp. (Piatco), including Germany’s Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide (Fraport), was declared null and void.
The mothballed P30-billion terminal was ready for operation in 2003 but legal battles further delayed the airport’s opening.
"Who would want to invest in us with all those legal problems. Every time we have a project, the project is considered illegal or null and void," Neri noted.
According to Neri, the bigger problem caused by the voiding of the contract is "the blackeye given to us in terms of foreign investment perception."
"This is giving us a very bad name in the investment community. Whenever they come here, they point to Piatco as the reason for not coming in," he noted.
Neri added that the Piatco issue has resulted in opportunity losses.
"Investors are discouraged from coming in because of the perceived legal problem in infrastructure investments," he explained.
Legal obstacles were identified as one of the reasons why infrastructure projects are being delayed and investors are wary of bringing in business into the country.
"The main source of delay is the legal issues sometimes that’s why there are snags in the project," Neri said.
To address this problem, Neri said legal obstacles must be discussed.
"One thing is, before we can start a project we clear the legal obstacles. They should be well defined so we can address them," Neri pointed out.