SC affirms slain judge’s order for gov’t to pay Piatco

The Supreme Court (SC) affirmed yesterday the decision of slain Pasay City Judge Henrick Gingoyon ordering the government to pay an initial P3 billion to the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco) for expenses incurred in the construction of Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Based on its ruling last December, a day before Gingoyon was gunned down in Las Piñas, the Court remanded the case to the Pasay City regional trial court for Gingoyon to determine the total "just compensation" that Piatco should receive.

In a 13-page en banc resolution dated Feb. 1, the SC ruled it would be unfair for the government to take over the operation of the NAIA Terminal 3 without paying Piatco a single centavo.

"Whatever animosity the government may have towards Piatco does not acquit it from settling its obligations to the latter, particularly those which had already been previously affirmed by this court," read the SC’s decision.

The high court denied the motions for reconsideration of Ilocos Sur Rep. Salacnib Baterina and the two Japanese sub-contractors of NAIA 3.

The petitions sought to defer the government’s payment of the P3 billion to Piatco.

The SC said Baterina invoked his prerogative as legislator to curtail the disbursement without appropriation of public funds to compensate Piatco, as well as that as a taxpayer, as the basis of his legal standing to intervene.

"However, it should be noted that the amount which the Court directed to be paid by the government to Piatco was derived from the money deposited by the Manila International Airport Authority, an agency which enjoys corporate autonomy and possesses a legal personality separate and distinct from those of the national government and agencies thereof whose budgets have to be approved by Congress," read the SC’s decision.

In his motion for reconsideration, Baterina said the Piatco is not entitled to compensation for the costs it incurred for constructing NAIA-3 because it acted in bad faith when it entered into a contract with the government.

Written by Associate Justice Dante Tinga, the ruling dismissed with finality the motion for partial reconsideration filed by the Office of the Solicitor General.

"We first dispose of the motion for partial reconsideration filed by petitioner Republic of the Philippines," read the SC ruling.

"It propounds several reasons for the reconsideration of the Court’s decision dated Dec. 19, 2005. Some of the arguments merely rehash points raised in the petition and already dispensed with exhaustively in the decision.

"On account of these adverse claims, the government now claims as controvertible the question of who is the builder of the NAIA-3. The government likewise claims as indispensable the need of Takenaka and Asahikosan to provide the necessary technical services and supplies so that all the various systems and equipment will be ready and operational in a manner that allows the government to possess a fully-capable international airport terminal."

The SC said the government may end up having expropriated a terminal with liens and claims far in excess of its actual value.

"The liens remain unextinguished and Piatco, on the other hand, ends up with the P3,002,125,000 in its pockets gratuitously," read the Court’s decision.

"If any part of (the government’s) P3,002,125,000 deposit is released directly to Piatco, and Piatco, as in the past, does not wish to settle its obligations directly to Takenaka, Asahikosan and Fraport. — Jose Rodel Clapano