GMA creates Cabinet oversight committee on NAIA Terminal 3

President Arroyo has designated Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II to head a three-man Cabinet oversight committee that will, among other things, ensure that the controversial Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3) project is completed, opened, and made functional as soon as possible.

The President also named Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon to the oversight committee.

The creation of the oversight committee came more than a month after a Supreme Court en banc ruling last May 5 deemed as null and void the award of the contract for the construction, operation and maintenance of NAIA 3, as well as the concession agreement for the build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement of this project with the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco).

The President instructed the Cabinet oversight committee to formulate and adopt necessary and appropriate courses of action to ensure the completion, opening and operation of NAIA 3 "in the most practicable time, subject to the approval of the Office of the President."

Mrs. Arroyo’s directives to the committee are contained in Administrative Order 75 issued last June 25, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR yesterday.

The President also ordered Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo and Undersecretary Claudio Teehankee Jr., concurrently Government Corporate Counsel, to assist the oversight committee.

In AO 75, Mrs. Arroyo instructed the oversight committee to coordinate with the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), headed by NAIA general manager Edgar Manda, and to call upon all departments, bureaus and offices of the executive department for assistance in discharging the committee’s functions.

"There is a need to effectively coordinate and integrate government efforts to move forward on the basis of the decision of the Supreme Court and applicable laws," Mrs. Arroyo said in AO 75.

Despite a motion for reconsideration filed with the Supreme Court by Piatco to reverse the May 5 ruling, Piatco official Jeffrey Cheng expressed his company’s interest to remain as operator of NAIA 3 when it finally opens.

Cheng said they are still awaiting the final decision of the Supreme Court on the validity of the contract between Piatco and the government.

Manda earlier said the access road and other amenities at NAIA 3 can be completed and the terminal operational in less than six months, without benefit of loans or borrowings.

He said that should MIAA be able to collect P3 billion, excluding interests from concessionaires and other tenants of NAIA, which have not been paid since he assumed office in 2001, "initial funding to complete Terminal 3 will not be a problem."

Manda said yesterday the P3 billion was uncovered during a financial audit done as soon as he assumed office as airport manager.

The amount, due from rentals of some airline companies, tenants and various concessionaires, had not been moving long before he took over, he added.