Philco Aero ready for detailed talks on DMIA project

MANILA, Philippines - Philco Aero Inc., the lead company in a Filipino-Korean consortium that submitted an unsolicited proposal to undertake the development and operation of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport Terminal 2 project for $144 million, has assured the Clark International Airport Corp. of its readiness to continue detailed negotiations with CIAC’s joint venture selection committee.

In a resolution passed during a special board meeting last March 4, the CIAC board approved the continuation of the negotiation process with Philco Aero in accordance with the 2008 joint venture guidelines issued by the National Economic and Development Authority.

The same resolution also instructed the CIAC president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano to recommend to the board the revised composition of the JVSC that will continue the negotiations with Philco Aero.

“We’re fully prepared for the continuation of detailed negotiations in accordance with Stage 2 of NEDA’s Detailed Guidelines for Competitive Challenge Procedure for Public-Private Joint Ventures,” Ricardo L. Penson, Philco Aero chairman and CEO, said. “We’re just waiting for the recomposition of the JVSC to be completed.”

Backed by conglomerate San Miguel Corp. which has acquired a 70 percent stake in the company, Philco Aero is the leader of the consortium that has two construction industry giants as members: EEI Corp., a member of the Yuchengco Group of Companies, and Korea Airports Corp. (KAC), which is engaged in the design, financing and construction of international airport passenger terminals all over Asia, including the Mactan International Airport.

As part of the consortium’s project proposal, Philco Aero forwarded to CIAC two letters of intent - one signed by Hans Christian O. Lopez, EEI assistant vice president for operations/infrastructure projects, and the other by Byeong-No Kim, KAC R&D Business Center director - signifying their respective companies’ commitment to undertake the construction of DMIA’s Terminal 2. 

“Using the combined experience and expertise of the consortium members in the fields of engineering, construction, finance and project management, we put together our proposal for the development and operation of DMIA’s Terminal 2,” Penson said, adding that their proposal was perfected and submitted in strict adherence with both the letter and spirit of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law and the NEDA JV guidelines.

“We firmly believe that ours is the best proposal and most viable development plan for the DMIA,” he noted.

Philco Aero, according to Penson, has forwarded to CIAC all the supporting documents on the technical and financial aspects of their proposal. This, he explained, is in preparation for the next stage of the process as stipulated in the NEDA JV guidelines: the detailed negotiation stage.

“We reaffirm and stand by the technical feasibility and viability of our proposal, and we are looking forward to the detailed negotiation stage, as well as the final ‘Swiss challenge’ phase where any competing bidder can challenge our proposal,” Penson said.

The Philco Aero consortium, he stressed, has everything that an ambitious project such as the development of the DMIA needs - experience, expertise, technology and funding. “Above all,” he said, “we are committed to serving the Filipino people by providing them only with the best, in accordance with the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) policy thrust of the Aquino administration’s economic development strategy.”