Four more to face graft charges in NAIA-3 deal

Four more people including a high-ranking official in Malacañang will be charged with graft in the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the Ninoy Aquino Terminal III project.

The charges will be filed by the Coalition against NAIA Terminal III (CANT-3), a newly-created alliance of five non-governmental organizations that are opposed to the project.

Ray Junia, CANT-3 president, said the four would be included in the supplemental charges that they are planning to file next week.

"After we reviewed the project, we found out that there are at least four more people who are behind this anomalous contract," he noted during a press briefing.

He, however, refused to reveal the identities of the four who are all in the government.

The airport expansion project is one of the flagship projects of Secretary Roberto Aventajado.

The supplemental charges will be in addition to the graft case filed by Bangon Pasay Movement against Transportation Secretary Vicente Rivera Jr., former Bases Conversion Development Authority chairman Victorino Basco, former Manila International Airport Authority general manager Francisco Atayde and presidential friend Henry Go, president of project concessionaire Philippine International Air Terminal Co.

Aside from Bangon, CANT-3 is composed of Justice for All Movement of the Philippines, National Labor Union, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and Movement Against Big Business Abuses.

The coalition alleged that the project was disadvantageous to the government but beneficial for PIATCO.

Rivera, for his part, denied having signed the contract and pointed, instead to the late Transportation Secretary Arturo Enrile.

But according to Junia, it was the amended version of the contract that Rivera signed. This was confirmed by a DOTC insider.

"It is, indeed, the amended version that we found irregular. There are provisions there that are disadvantageous to the government," he added.

One of these provisions pertained to the alleged granting of exclusive right to PIATCO to "operate a commercial international passenger terminal within the island of Luzon."

"Under this provision, NAIA terminals I and II will be closed to make terminal III the lone passenger terminal of NAIA. It further provides an assurance to PIATCO of sole ownership and management of companies offering airport support services like catering and airport maintenance," CANT-3 said.

CANT-3 added that there was an uneven scheme of sharing of the terminal fee to be collected by PIATCO from every outbound paying passenger.

The coalition alleged that for a terminal fee of P800, the concessionaire gets P620 while the government's share is only P180.