AEDC threatens to file graft raps vs MIAA execs

Legal counsels of taipan Lucio Tan’s Asia Emerging Dragon Corp. (AEDC) threatened yesterday to file graft charges against government officials, including Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) executives, who will disburse money to the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) as partial compensation for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3).

The AEDC said it would be tantamount to malversation of funds because there is no appropriation for the facility and the government has not identified the funding source for the rest of the payment.

Charges, they said, might be filed against MIAA General Manager Alfonso Cusi, who earlier said the government would release P3 billion as downpayment to Piatco for the controversial facility.

Lawyer Perfecto Yasay Jr., lead counsel for AEDC, said in a statement that the government expropriated the facility to undermine the rights of AEDC to the airport terminal and to benefit Piatco.

"We will not hesitate to file charges against these people if they hand over the payment to Piatco," Yasay stressed.

He explained that the expropriation of NAIA-3 breaks the nature of NAIA-3 as a Build-Operate-and-Transfer (BOT) project and converts the facility into a private property paid for by the government.

He added that the expropriation was illegal because expropriation applies only to private property delineated for public use upon payment of just compensation. NAIA-3, however, was built on government land.

Lawyer Jose Bernas, another legal counsel for AEDC, said paying Piatco is disadvantageous to the government as there is a pending case filed by the consortium before an international court of arbitration in Singapore.

In the suit, Piatco is claiming $565 million in just compensation and the right to operate the terminal.

"It is illegal for the government to pay Piatco for the expropriation of the facility when it is insisting that it is entitled to operate NAIA-3," Bernas said.

If the government loses in the arbitration case, he said there would be double payment and government officials who released the payment could be liable for graft and corruption.

On the other hand, Yasay said the order of the lower court to release the payment, which the SC affirmed recently, prejudiced the government’s defense in the $425-million arbitration case filed by the German company Fraport AG, which is part of Piatco, before the International Court for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, and also the government’s position in the case filed by Piatco in Singapore.