AEDC vows to stop gov’t from paying Piatco

Asia’s Emerging Dragon Co. (AEDC) yesterday vowed to stop the government from paying P3 billion in just compensation to the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco), builders of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3).

Owned by businessman Lucio Tan, AEDC said the government should pay only the actual cost of the construction of the facility.

In a telephone interview, lawyer Perfecto Yasay Jr., lead counsel for AEDC, said they would file a motion for intervention next week to ask the court to prevent enforcement of an order for the government to pay Piatco.

Yasay noted that they wanted to protect the government and the people from paying a much higher price than the actual cost of the construction.

He said that based on their study, the government should pay only $200 million for the facility.

Yasay said AEDC earlier offered to pay the government $350 million to be put in escrow which would allow them to operate the terminal and give the government funds to pay Piatco.

He explained that under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) law, the government need only pay for the actual cost of the construction if the facility was built on government land as in the case of NAIA-3.

Yasay clarified though that AEDC is not against the opening of NAIA-3, which is scheduled for March 31, but is only against "overpayment" to Piatco.

Meanwhile, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) official Alfonso Cusi said that although NAIA-3 is not yet complete, it would be able to serve at least two airlines — Cebu Pacific and Jet Star Airways.

"Call it a soft opening, partial opening or whatever. No matter what you call it, the fact remains that the facility will be opened on March 31," Cusi told The STAR.

Cusi, who was in Davao yesterday for a routine inspection of the Davao International Airport facility, explained that the Supreme Court has to resolve the issue of ownership of the facility before international airlines may come in. — With Edith Regalado