Roxas calls on government to ensure proper valuation of NAIA-3

Senator Manuel Roxas II is calling on the government to ensure the proper valuation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) now that it has taken over the facility.

"While we are jubilant for the recent victory in possessing NAIA-3, we should now make sure that this is not a pyrrhic victory," he said.

"The Solicitor General, the Secretary of Trade and all other government officials involved in the take-over of NAIA-3 should make sure that the price the government will pay is the right price," he added.

Roxas explained that the P3 billion or $60 million the government paid to the Philippine International Air Terminal Co. Inc. (Piatco) was just the initial partial payment as ordered by the Pasay City regional trial court (RTC) as "just compensation."

Piatco wants the government to pay $565 million for the facility, while the original bid price was only $350 million.

Roxas said that he believes the price of the facility should be just around $350 million. "The government should not be made to pay more than what is just," he said.

Roxas, who chairs the Senate committees on trade and commerce and on economic affairs, said that that the operation of the long-delayed terminal will help increase foreign travel into the Philippines, leading to more growth in tourism.

"It will signal our intent to modernize and stay in step with the rest of the world," Roxas said.

Pasay City RTC Judge Jesus Mupas recently released the "writ of possession," effectively setting the stage for full government control of NAIA-3, after the government paid the P3 billion to Piatco.

Roxas urged the Office of the Solicitor General to check with the Pasay City RTC the progress of court-appointed valuators, who have yet to come up with their estimate of the terminal’s value.

The three-man commission, composed of former public works secretary Fiorello Estuar, former Commission on Audit chief Sonfronio Ursal and former Air Force pilot Angelo Panganiban, failed to meet its May 22 deadline.

Roxas recalled that the government had previously planned to get three independent and reputable foreign engineering appraisers to provide reasonable estimates on the cost of NAIA-3.

He pointed out that getting multiple calculations from different assessors and then pegging the cost at the midpoint of those valuations is the same method used by international agencies such as the United Nations to determine project cost.

"At that time, the government was willing to pay any amount representing the midpoint of the three estimates or valuations but Piatco rejected the idea of involving independent and reputable foreign engineering appraisers," Roxas pointed out.

Roxas, when he was trade secretary, led a team of Cabinet members tasked by President Arroyo to work for an amicable settlement of the NAIA-3 issue.

"The government has a legal and moral obligation to ensure that the compensation involved is just and fair to all parties including the Filipino people," he said.

"Like all Filipinos, I look forward to having a new international airport facility that will make air travel easier not only for Filipinos but also for foreign tourists," he added.

NAIA-3 was completed in 2002 but its opening was delayed by a squabble between German airport operator Fraport AG and its local partners in Piatco.

It was further delayed when President Arroyo in November 2002 revoked Piatco’s contract with the government on the grounds that certain terms were illegally renegotiated by her deposed predecessor, Joseph Estrada, in 1998.