Arrest of Piatco ‘bagman’ ordered

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee headed by Sen. Joker Arroyo has ordered the arrest of a supposed "bagman" of the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco) for allegedly ignoring a committee subpoena to appear in yesterday’s hearing.

The bagman, identified as Emmanuel Cuevas, wrote a letter to the committee last week expressing his willingness to appear at the public hearing on the Piatco contract to build Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The committee, meanwhile, virtually roasted yesterday National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Dante Canlas for his "premature and ill-studied" declaration that three supplements to the Piatco contract were advantageous to the government.

A surprise witness presented by Sen. Sergio Osmeña III also claimed yesterday that he was a witness to the alleged giving of a P5-million bribe to the Piatco secretary by top officials of Wintrack, a Piatco subcontractor.

Cuevas’ name first surfaced in the Blue Ribbon hearing last week when Secretary Gloria Tan-Climaco, presidential adviser for strategic affairs, claimed that a person close to the Cheng family has been collecting under-the-table payments from suppliers and potential concessionaires of Terminal 3.

She presented to the committee a letter of an executive of Italcontract Phils. to Cuevas mentioning a 12-percent commission to Cuevas for the sale of China granite stone to the Terminal 3 project. "There was information of under-the-table payment of P1.5 million to P4 million for some concession. Some complained to Malacañang," she said.

Climaco added that Fraport and other Piatco shareholders have no share in the payments, of which they had no knowledge.

Canlas came under scathing criticisms from Arroyo and Osmeña for declaring the three Piatco contract supplements as advantageous to the government during the confirmation hearing of the Commission on Appointments of resigned Transportation and Communications Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez.

During that confirmation hearing, Canlas also said that NEDA did not concern itself with the hefty consultancy fee of Alfonso Liongson as it would not affect the revenues to be derived by the government from the project.

The ire of the committee was aroused when Canlas admitted that he did not read all the pages of the supplements to the Piatco contract before declaring them "advantageous" to the state.

Canlas has been under fire from other sectors for accepting the chairmanship of the seven-member presidential committee that is reviewing the Piatco contract despite his previous pronouncements.

"You are now saying that you read page 1 but not pages 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. and on the basis of page 1, you said it is advantageous?" an incredulous Osmeña said.

He said that a Cabinet member like Canlas should not be making such premature pronouncements on important matters.

Canlas got the goat of Arroyo when he insisted that his answer was based on the information he got before his appearance in the confirmation hearing.

Arroyo said that in economic affairs, what matter most are statements from the Bangko Sentral and NEDA.

He admonished Canlas against making ill-studied comments because the President is chairman of NEDA and his statements could be misconstrued as official policy statements of the President.

Canlas also avoided answering questions on the Piatco contract, particularly on the alleged government guarantee of Piatco obligations should there be a default.

Meanwhile, a former engineer of Wintrack, a Piatco subcontractor, claimed that he saw Alvarez, then still a congressman representing Davao, and former Southern Leyte Rep. Roger Mercado give P5 million to Jeffrey Cheng, Piatco treasurer, inside Alvarez’s office.

Rey Libutan, the surprise witness of Osmeña, also claimed that through the influence of Alvarez, they were able to get needed documents that enabled Wintrack to get approval as subcontractor for the construction of subterranean works to Terminal 3.

Moises Tolentino, Piatco spokesman, described as "utterly fantastic and unbelievable" Libutan’s claim.

According to Tolentino, Libutan’s claims were contained in the charges he had filed against Alvarez and which were thrown out by the Ombudsman "for lack of merit."

"This is clearly unbelievable and preposterous!" Tolentino said. "Why should Cheng receive money from the two congressmen? There is no logical reason at all that the congressmen should give him money."

Libutan had previously claimed that Alvarez was part owner of Wintrack.

"It turned out that Alvarez was not, although his wife was," Tolentino said.

He stressed that the Commission on Audit had audited the Wintract project and found it to be free of irregularities and aboveboard.

"Libutan was a totally discredited witness who should never have been allowed to testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon because of his record of perjury!" Tolentino added.

Sen. Robert Barbers said that the Chengs also failed to satisfactorily explain the discrepancies in Piatco’s authorized capital stock. He noted that in its articles of incorporation filed before the Securities and Exchange Commission, Piatco had an authorized capital stock of P5 million and a paid-up capital of P1.5 million.

"Yet, in the documents Piatco filed in Pasay, they have authorized capital of P100,000 from 1998 to 2001 and in 2002, an authorized capital of P12 million. Why the discrepancy?" Barbers asked. Meanwhile, Tolentino asserted yesterday that all materials used and works done at the Terminal 3 and its facilities have passed the proper quality inspections.

Tolentino refuted claims that some of the materials used and works done at the new terminal were substandard.

"This simply is not true," said Tolentino. "All materials used and facilities built inside NAIA Terminal 3 have been passed by the quality assurance inspector hired by both the government and Piatco."

He said that Climaco "deliberately spread the false information to back up her obsession for a government takeover of the new terminal and later turn it over to certain self-seeking interests."

He appealed to Piatco critics to "cease and desist from their vilification campaign and show their patriotism by allowing the terminal to open on time so as not delay further our country’s economic recovery and progress."