Airport exec questions timing of NBI complaint

CEBU, Philippines —  Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) chief executive Steve Dicdican has questioned the timeliness of the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against him and 15 officials of the GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) for allegedly violating the Anti-Dummy Law.

"The NBI complaint was so hastily filed that they did not bother to take time to give me any notice about it nor to do even a modicum of research or just Google for that matter," Dicdican said.

He reasoned that the concession agreement was awarded to GMCAC years before he joined the MCIAA and that it was upheld by the Supreme Court.

"Had they Googled? They would know that the concession agreement was awarded to GMCAC years before I joined the MCIAA. The award of the concession agreement was upheld by no less than the Supreme Court. I merely gave the presumption to regularity to things that happened before my time.”

"If they wanted to blame anyone in the government, they were one administration too late. It begs the question on why the NBI suddenly wanted to file so hastily after all these years and if they are acting on behalf of some other interest," he said.

The charges filed before the Department of Justice stemmed from the awarding of a concession deal to GMCAC, a consortium dominated by foreign nationals.

GMCAC is a consortium between Megawide Construction Corporation, which is incorporated under the Philippine Laws, and the GMR Group, which is a foreign infrastructure company.

Along with Dicdican, charged before the Prosecutor General of the DOJ are the 15 officials of the consortium, four of whom are Filipinos and 11 are foreign nationals.

The four Filipino officials include Manuel Louie Ferrer, Edgar Saavedra, Oliver Tan, and JZ Dela Cruz.

The 11 foreign nationals, on the other hand, are Srivinas Bommidala, P. Sripathy, Vivek Singhai, Andrew Acquaah-Harrison, Ravi Bhatnagar, Ravishankar Saravu, Michael Lenane, Sudarshan MD, Kumar Gaurav, Magesh Nambiar, and Rajesh Madan.

Aside from DOJ, Dicdican is also charged before the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) for violating the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The complainant said the respondents "conspired, connived, colluded, schemed, and acted together" to violate the 1987 Constitution and the Anti-Dummy Law.

The NBI further said that the evidence gathered by the investigators showed that the foreign nationals are actually performing executive and managerial positions.

The Anti-Dummy Law penalizes anyone who violates the foreign equity restrictions, wherein 60 percent of the company should be owned by a Filipino.

Megawide earlier denied the allegations that the company violated the law when it partnered with the GMR Group. — KQD (FREEMAN)