Piatco set aside P2.5-B for Liongson under voided contract

Piatco had provided for $47.5 million or P2.5 billion for its alleged PR man Alfonso Liongson on top of the $5.5 million that had been unearthed during the Senate Blue Ribbon hearing.

Piatco documents showed that Liongson, who fled the country one day before he was to appear before the Senate hearing, was to get $1.5 million or roughly P100 million per year for the next 25 years, the length of time Piatco would be running the controversial airport Terminal 3.

Perfecto Yasay Jr., chairman of the group of airport companies whose valid contracts to service Terminals 1 and 2 were to be cancelled by the Piatco contract once Terminal 3 goes into service, said Liongson must be brought back to the country to shed light on such an outrageous amount for public relations.

"No company and certainly no government entity spends P100 million for PR per year. This is more than enough to buy and own all the newspapers and some radio stations that matter," he said.

He also said the Liongson item more than ever points to the need for Piatco to come clean and open its books for audit.

"The taxpayers will pay, as the Supreme Court said in its ruling voiding the Piatco contract, only the reasonable costs that went into building the terminal. The Liongson money certainly does not qualify," he said.

Yasay said there could be other similar questionable accounts in the Piatco books. "The problem is Piatco has refused to allow an audit and is now virtually renegotiating its contract with the government after losing in the Supreme Court."

The Liongson money had been suspected as bribe money. Yasay said the government should find a way to get Liongson extradited to the country and explain the many things that remain a puzzle in the Piatco controversy.

"But everything depends on the government. It is not very encouraging though when we hear the government say one day that no official would be taken to court for the Piatco mess because they made ‘mistakes in good faith’ and then tell the Ombudsman to go after them the next day," he said.