Piatco opening reset to Dec. 15

Controversial or not, it opens in December.

President Arroyo yesterday gave the go-signal for the "soft-opening" on Dec. 15 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3, even as the government has yet to complete its review of the alleged "onerous" provisions of its deal with the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco).

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye yesterday said this was one of the products of the President’s convening the "team-building" Cabinet Workshop at Mimosa Beach Resort in Clark Field, Pampanga.

Bunye said the President instructed Transport and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon "to coordinate with the management of Piatco" to implement her order.

"This does not mean we have forgotten the review of some of the controversial provisions of the Piatco contract," Bunye added.

Piatco spokesman Moises Tolentino said in a statement that changes in the concession agreement between the government and Piatco do not make the contract invalid.

Tolentino cited a memorandum issued by Piatco to three Senate committees, led by the Blue Ribbon Committee, investigating the contract. "We only want to show our goodwill, open-mindedness and our readiness to negotiate in the interest of cooperation with President Arroyo’s administration," Tolentino said. According to him, the Piatco contract is not fatally flawed.

Mrs. Arroyo’s order to open the new airport terminal is a turnaround from the previous Palace stance that it should not be opened for a test-run during the Christmas season, when the NAIA is flooded with balikbayans coming home for the holidays. Terminal 3’s opening was originally set for the first quarter of next year.

The President also ordered a seven-man Cabinet committee reviewing the Piatco contract’s onerous provisions to speed up their work and submit their findings and recommendations to her as soon as possible.

The committee is led by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) secretary-general Dante Canlas and includes Mendoza, Gordon and Trade Secretary Mar Roxas.

Bunye also said the Palace welcomed Piatco president Chen Yong’s acceptance of the government’s desire to remove onerous contract provisions.