Palace: No goodwill lost between government, Piatco

Malacañang said yesterday no goodwill was lost between the government and the builders of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) despite a looming fresh round of legal confrontation.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who heads the Palace study group on NAIA-3, also said the possible filing of criminal charges against ranking officials of Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco) and the Germany-based Fraport AG will not delay the scheduled opening of NAIA-3.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) earlier recommended criminal indictments for executives of the two firms for their alleged violation of the anti-dummy law.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez had directed a panel of prosecutors to conduct a preliminary investigation of the officials involved.

"I don’t think there will be any loss of goodwill because in the first place the NBI’s investigation is about the violation of the Anti-Dummy Law which is separate and distinct from the issues in the opening of the international airport," Ermita told a press conference.

"The NBI recommendation on filing the anti-dummy charges against Fraport and Piatco officials, is separate and distinct from the effort of the government to open NAIA-3, now it’s a done deal already," he said.

"I don’t see why it can have any effect in the opening of the airport, they are two separate cases," Ermita said of the alleged anti-dummy law violation and the recently resolved expropriation issue.

He said government had already taken the first step to compensate Piatco in compliance with a Supreme Court directive. It was the SC a few years ago which had declared as null and void the government’s contract with Piatco.

Ermita said the government is now finalizing documents to allow another contractor, Takenaka of Japan, to finish the airport.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila earlier said the airport may be fully operational in six to nine months or by the middle of next year based on the estimates of engineers and airlines that want to lease space in NAIA-3.

Ermita also said with the issuance of the writ of possession by the Pasay Regional Trial Court, the government may now enter into lease agreements with airlines and concessionaires.

He could not say however if Manila International Airport Authority had already forged contracts with other airlines. — Paolo Romero