Gov’t vows to take over NAIA-3

The government vowed yesterday to take full control of the mothballed Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) as soon as possible despite legal obstacles.

"We assure the people that the recent developments on the NAIA Terminal 3 will not in any way weaken our resolve to take full control of its operation under the rule of law," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

Bunye said it was up to the Office of the Solicitor General to map out the legal strategy on the case.

"The Filipino people shall not be deprived of the benefits of this modern facility, which plays a vital role in the economy," he said.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Malacañang had been told that the Supreme Court (SC) would discuss the issue in its next en banc meeting on Tuesday.

The OSG had earlier bypassed the Court of Appeals and gone straight to the SC, seeking the junking of the appellate court’s temporary restraining order on the government’s payment of P3 billion to Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco), the builder of NAIA-3. The payment of the P3 billion will allow the government to take over the airport facility.

Solicitor General Antonio Nachura said the fastest way to resolve the issue would be to go directly to the SC since any decision of the appellate court would be elevated to the high tribunal.

"It was the decision of the Supreme Court that made the government take that action of expropriating the structure and we were leading to the payment when the TRO came about, which was issued by the Court of Appeals," Ermita said. "But the government lawyer is saying that let the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land, be the one to decide the case."

He also stated that government personnel would not leave NAIA-3 premises even with the unresolved legal issues, particularly the still unenforced order by the Singapore-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Arbitration Tribunal for the government to return the disputed terminal to Piatco.

"Definitely we are not (vacating the NAIA Terminal 3 premises). That cannot be. It (ICC decision) is not implementable because that has to be resolved by our local court," Ermita said.

The Court of Appeals’ issuance of the TRO was in response to a motion filed by Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., which is against Piatco’s control of NAIA-3.

Nachura said the SC had already made it clear in December 2005 that a payment of P3 billion be made before the government could take over the idle airport facility.

Piatco built the terminal under a "build-operate-transfer" contract, which the Arroyo administration revoked in 2002, citing some anomalous provisions reportedly inserted into the deal by deposed President Joseph Estrada in 1998.

Germany’s Fraport AG, which has a 30-percent stake in Piatco, is pursuing a separate arbitration in Washington, demanding $465 million as compensation for the project.

‘Meant to divert’

Meanwhile, AEDC lawyer Perfecto Yasay Jr. said the government’s withdrawal of its petition for the lifting of the TRO was meant to divert the legal debates from the expropriation issue.

Yasay said the government might have decided to withdraw the petition after it realized that such petition would compel the appellate court to study the legality of NAIA-3 expropriation.

He said that if the High Court assumed jurisdiction over the case, the debates would likely focus on the legal standing of Ilocos Sur Rep. Salacnib Baterina and not on expropriation.

"Government’s action clearly point to the fact that they do not want the court to review whether the expropriation is legal. They only want to question the standing of Baterina and have the CA case dismissed on that basis. Government clearly does not want the people to know that expropriation is unlawful," he said.

The Court of Appeals issued the TRO on the basis of a petition for review and prohibition filed by Baterina against the Pasay City Regional Trial Court, which had denied his petition for intervention.

"The CA wants to review first the expropriation. The government does not want that to happen. They don’t want to discuss if the move is legal or not," the AEDC lawyer said.

For his part, Piatco corporate secretary and spokesman Moises Tolentino said they were inclined to wait beyond this week to see how developments unfold in the Supreme Court.

"Whatever it is government intends to do in the particular case with the OSG bringing it to the Supreme Court, we’ll just wait for the developments," Tolentino said.

"Our only interest is that all the matters will be resolved. And both parties will be guided on what next to do, especially Piatco," Tolentino told the STAR. — With Rainier Allan Ronda, Sandy Araneta