AEDC lauds CA TRO on NAIA-3 payment

The Asia’s Emerging Dragons Co. (AEDC) owned by tycoon Lucio Tan lauded the recent issuance by the Court of Appeals (CA) of a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the release of a P3-billion "downpayment" to the Philippine International Air Terminals Co.(Piatco).

Former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr., who is now chief legal counsel for AEDC, said that while the CA’s TRO was welcome, AEDC will continue its efforts to stop the government’s ill-advised expropriation of the controversial Terminal III of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

"The CA TRO is a step in the right direction," Yasay said. "But President Arroyo should intervene and order her officials to withdraw the expropriation of government property that will cause further hardships to our people."

Yasay said that because the Supreme Court ruled that the Piatco build-operate-transfer contract is illegal and anomalous, the President should "immediately stop the further plunder of public funds."

The AEDC opposes the government’s expropriation of NAIA-3, saying they are the entity entitled to take over the contract by virtue of their being the project’s original proponent.

In a bid to stop the government expropriation of the facility, AEDC said the government gravely erred in initiating the expropriation case before the Pasay City regional trial court, since Terminal 3 was built on the property owned by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

The AEDC was the corporate vehicle formed by five Filipino-Chinese business "taipans" or tycoons namely Tan, John Gokongwei Jr., Henry Sy Sr., George S.K. Ty and Alfonso Yuchengco during the tenure of former President Fidel Ramos to build an international airport to replace the ageing and decrepit NAIA Terminal I.

The AEDC had submitted an unsolicited proposal to build an international airport and passenger terminal for the government that was later beaten by a counter-offer made by the Piatco consortium led by the group of businessman Cheng Bon Liong, who controlled the PAIRCARGO firm during a "Swiss challenge" period.

Late Thursday afternoon, the appellate court’s Eighth Division headed by Associate Justice Renato Dacudao, ordered Judge Jesus B. Mupas of the regional trial court of Pasay City Branch 117 to "cease and desist" from implementing the judgment that was under petition or from "causing payment" or proceeding with the determination of just compensation in the expropriation case.

In a two-page resolution, the CA said the 60-day TRO was issued after lawyers from AEDC filed a petition seeking to stop the payment of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to Piatco.

Yasay earlier said AEDC would file charges against government officials who would disburse payment to compensate Piatco, saying there is no appropriation approved for the purpose.

It was also reported earlier that, as the MIAA finally set out to turn over to Piatco the P3.3 billion that the Pasay court had ordered it to pay the consortium, the CA issued the order that stopped the payment, now held by the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The appellate court granted the TRO after reviewing a case for review and prohibition filed by Ilocos Sur Rep. Salacnib Baterina against the Pasay City RTC, which dismissed the petition by Baterina and a host of other private parties seeking to halt the expropriation of the NAIA-3.

Baterina was among those who filed the motion to intervene in the case, claiming that the expropriation case should be dismissed and Piatco should not be compensated because it obtained the contract to build NAIA-3 through fraud and corruption.

In 2004, the Supreme Court voided Piatco’s contract to build the terminal for being onerous and disadvantageous to the government.

Shortly after the SC nullified the Piatco contract, the government took over the facility and filed a case for expropriation with the Pasay court.

In January 2004, the court ordered the government to pay Piatco $62.34 (about P3.3 billion) as partial payment for the facility.

In 2005, the Supreme Court gave the government the go-ahead to operate the terminal but affirmed the Pasay court’s order to pay Piatco an initial P3.3 billion as "just compensation."

Baterina immediately filed a motion to intervene saying it was his duty as a legislator to "curtail the disbursement without appropriation of public funds to compensate Piatco." — Rainier Allan Ronda, Jess Diaz