Litigation seen to delay NAIA-3 opening

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. fears that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 3 may not be opened in the first quarter of next year as scheduled because of a protracted court battle on the compensation claims of Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco).

"All efforts must be exhausted to expedite the opening of NAIA-3 because the continued non-operation of the airport is greatly prejudicial to the interest of air passengers," he said.

"If they keep postponing the opening of the airport, I’m afraid its facilities and equipment may deteriorate and become obsolete."

The opening of NAIA-3 may be delayed again because the government has defied a Supreme Court order to settle the compensation issue, he added.

The government has decided to seek a reconsideration of the High Tribunal’s ruling that it pay Piatco $62 million in compliance with the original order issued by Pasay City regional trial court Judge Henrick Gingoyon on Jan. 14, 2005.

Pimentel said the public finds the government’s refusal to settle the financial obligation hard to understand.

Even Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita is worried that a motion for reconsideration may take months for the Supreme Court to resolve, he added.

Pimentel said measures to complete the construction and to open and operate NAIA-3 must proceed despite the pending court case.

The Philippines has been made a worldwide laughingstock because of its exorbitant "white elephant" projects, he added, including a billion-dollar nuclear plant built under former president Ferdinand Marcos that never opened, and the current state-of-the-art air terminal that remains in limbo.

The government should explain why it refuses to pay Piatco and other investors the initial $62 million payment when the amount has already been deposited at the Land Bank of the Philippines after expropriation of the terminal complex precisely for that purpose, Pimentel said.

The NAIA-3 was originally scheduled for completion and opening in November 2002, or more than three years ago. The government was ordered by Judge Gingoyon to release the $62 million in payment to Piatco, while a three-man panel was determining the reasonable compensation to the contractor of NAIA-3.

The government is hoping to open the terminal in the first quarter of next year. — Christina Mendez