Fraport-Manila Hotel deal a ‘moro-moro’ — Yasay

A lawyer representing concessionaires at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) charged yesterday that the deal between Manila Hotel Corp. and German company Fraport AG is a sham to prevent the Frankfurt airport operator from exposing alleged corruption charges against top government officials.

"To me, I personally believe this is a moro-moro, a fictitious sale," former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Perfecto Yasay told a press forum in Quezon City yesterday.

Yasay, representing the Manila International Airport Services and Operators, speculated the deal may be an offshoot of allegations that President Arroyo and her family took bribes from Fraport. He did not elaborate.

Bribery could be grounds for impeachment, Yasay pointed out, adding that he believed that Fraport was using the allegations as leverage against the government.

Yasay said he had already exposed the alleged anomaly in the past and it is now the subject of an investigation by the German government. He did not give details.

Yasay said Manila Hotel Corp. entered the picture to keep Fraport quiet.

But if Frafort was also a party to the bribery, then its officers should also go to jail, Yasay said. "The government should not be a hostage to these allegations," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who was also a guest of the forum, was skeptical of Yasay’s claims. "That’s an explosive allegation but I believe its only an opinion of Mr. Yasay," he said.

Airline executives hope the new development will speed up the opening of the new terminal as well as resolve the legal battle over the facility.

Manila Hotel Corp. gained control of Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) after it bought the equities of Fraport as well as those of two other foreign partners of the consortium, which built the new NAIA terminal.

Fraport’s decision to accept Manila Hotel Corp.’s $200-million offer for its stake in Piatco effectively ends its dispute with its local partners in Piatco and with the government.

The $650-million terminal had been mothballed since 2003 when Mrs. Arroyo revoked Piatco’s "build-operate-transfer" contract with the government on the grounds that certain terms were illegally renegotiated by her deposed predecessor Joseph Estrada in 1998.

Fraport, which had been seeking over $400 million in compensation million for the terminal project, took its case to arbitration in Washington while Piatco has a separate arbitration case in Singapore.

Last week, Piatco’s new management and the government began talks over a possible settlement of their drawn-out legal battle and expedite government efforts to have it operational before yearend.

The legal battle over the terminal has been one of the business community’s major concerns because it highlighted the difficulties foreign investors face when investing in the Philippines, especially in desperately needed infrastructure projects. — With Rainier Allan Ronda