Severe sanctions await PEA culprits

President Arroyo vowed yesterday to impose severe sanctions against government officials involved in two major anomalous transactions with foreign investors that the Supreme Court voided recently.

Mrs. Arroyo said by getting rid of corruption in the bureaucracy, the government’s "institutional credibility" would be restored before the international business community.

In two landmark decisions that came one after the other, the SC nullified the government’s contract with the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3) project and its multibillion-peso land deal with the Public Estates Authority (PEA) and the Ital-Thai Amari Development Corp. (PEA-Amari).

Small Amari (now Cyber Bay) shareholders have assailed the SC decision, saying that it meant there was no way they could get their money back and thus, they felt like pyramid scam victims.

"We are hoping that Cyber Bay exhausts all legal remedies to address our problems and we will be 100 percent behind it," Cyber Bay shareholders’ spokeswoman Carol Sy said.

Sy stressed that the SC decision nullified an agreement which underwent scrutiny of various government agencies. "This puts into very serious question the credibility and reliability of government agencies that approved the contract, the integrity of the local stock market and the sanctity of contracts in general," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo, however, reaffirmed her commitment to uphold and implement the High Court’s twin decisions.

"In upholding the force of these landmark decisions, I assure our people that the ensuing disposition or negotiation of residual issues regarding the PEA-Amari or Piatco cases will be done in full view of the public, with utmost diligence and with the paramount national interest in mind," the President reassured.

"There will be a process to resolve these things in a manner that will satisfy all parties under the principles of justice and fair play. The process will be deliberate, systematic and transparent," she vowed.

Mrs. Arroyo said that the ruling of the High Tribunal on the PEA-Amari land deal followed the same principles by which the SC reviewed the legal and constitutional issues raised by the government against the NAIA 3 Piatco project.

She scoffed at concerns that government officials included in this reclamation deal, forged during the administration of former President Fidel Ramos and dubbed by former senator Ernesto Maceda, who exposed the issue, as the "mother of all scams," would get away easily.

"I reject insinuations that past corruption will flow over to this administration and I am prepared to impose the most severe sanctions against any government officials who violate the principles set forth by the High Court," Mrs. Arroyo stressed.

In his press briefing at Malacañang yesterday, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the Palace would leave to the Office of the Ombudsman to initiate the process of investigation of the irregularities noted by the SC in the voided Piatco and PEA-Amari contracts.

"We have the Office of the Ombudsman that has jurisdiction and that has authority to look into these matters. So, we leave that to proper authorities to further investigate," Bunye said.

Asked if ex-President Ramos would be included in this investigation, Bunye replied: "That’s for the Ombudsman to determine." — Marichu Villanueva