NGO to Piatco: Spare innocent from NAIA-3 mess

Aviation stakeholders accused yesterday the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) of muddling the issues surrounding the graft-ridden Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 contract by dragging innocent individuals into the controversy.

The Save Our Skies (SOS) Movement, which is made up of travel and tour operators, cargo forwarders and other businessmen engaged in airline-related businesses, said Piatco is raising extraneous subjects to divert the public’s attention from the real issues surrounding the NAIA-3 contract which was found to be null and void by the Supreme Court.

Robert Lim Joseph, SOS president, said Piatco should instead focus on addressing the onerous provisions in the contract to correct the damage that the deal has done and will do to the Filipino people and the country.

"From the time the Supreme Court has declared the contract null and void because of its onerous provisions and violations of several laws, we have not heard Piatco talk about correcting these flaws. Instead, they have raised irrelevant issues to either confuse the public, gain its sympathy or put the blame on other persons for the mess it is in," Joseph, who is president of Overseas Travel, said.

For example, he said, Piatco has not addressed the issue on terminal fee to be imposed in the new airport. A 100-percent increase in terminal fee is one of the provisions being questioned in the government-Piatco contract.

During the past few days, Piatco lawyers have blamed a taipan as the alleged brains behind the negative publicity against the consortium.

"No less than the High Court has found the contract replete with provisions highly disadvantageous to the people and violations of laws and public policy. Their (Piatco’s) problem is of their own making, not of other persons," Joseph said.

The SOS also stressed that they have every right to have their voice heard on the issue being one of the major stakeholders in the airline industry.

"The SOS has more than 1,000 member companies that will be affected with the operation of the Terminal 3. So we are very much concerned about the viability of the facility," the group said.

"The lawyers for Piatco have no concern for us stakeholders except their fat fees," it added.