Parañaque now owns NAIA-1

An hour’s delay cost the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to lose vital portions of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal I in a public auction conducted by the Parañaque City government.

By the time the city government received a copy of the temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court (SC), it had already auctioned off the NAIA Terminal 1 building and the international runway.

Since there were no bidders for the property, ownership automatically went to the city government.

"The TRO became moot and academic. The essence of the TRO is to stop the proceedings, but we received a copy at 1 p.m. The auction ended at 12 noon," Parañaque Mayor Joey Marquez told The STAR.

The TRO, he said, was dated Feb. 7. The auction was held at the city council’s session hall, starting at 10 a.m.

Marquez presided over the proceedings, which was witnessed by Parañaque City Rep. Eduardo Zialcita. The NAIA property was first on the list of properties scheduled for auctioning yesterday.

The city government auctioned off 334,398 square meters of the NAIA property located in the city’s Barangay Vitalez, and worth some P655.6 million.

The auction ended the long legal battle between the city government and MIAA, which argued that Governed Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) are exempt from paying local government units (LGUs) property taxes.

The lower court and the Court of Appeals, however, had both denied the MIAA’s petition, paving the way for the auction.

MIAA made a final appeal before the High Court.

The agency stopped paying real estate taxes to the city government in 1998.

Marquez, who presided over the auction proceedings, explained that the MIAA can redeem its property in February next year. But the agency would have to pay interests and penalties on top of its total obligation.

Marquez said the agency also has the option to rent the property from the city government.

"The results of the auction would not affect the airport’s operations," Marquez said.

He said the city government would simply oversee its operations to make sure that it gets the correct taxes due them.

Marquez also vowed to go after the "big fish" among delinquent taxpayers, especially GOCCs.

Next on the auction block is the Public Estates Authority (PEA) land which owes the city government taxes worth an estimated P300 million, he said.

The next auction is scheduled in April.