Lawmaker to P-Noy: Expand NAIA Terminal 3

MANILA, Philippines -  Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez urged the Aquino administration yesterday to fully operate and even expand the controversial Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

He made the appeal after an interactive website ranked NAIA Terminal 1 as among the world’s 10 worst airports and the worst in Asia.

Rodriguez said the government has not been able to fully use Terminal 3 because it is involved in a litigation case initiated by its proponent-builder, Philippine International Airport Terminals Corp. (Piatco) and its German partner Fraport AG.

“This is a 10-year-old case, which President Aquino should now resolve through an amicable settlement, so we can use and expand the terminal to replace the two other terminals,” he said.

He said the government has already spent more than P2 billion in defending its interest in Terminal 3.

“Fraport is suing us again in an international arbitration forum. He said that if Terminal 3 could be fully operated, expanded and modernized, it could replace Terminals 1 and 2 for international operations, while the latter could be used for domestic travel,” he said.

At present, Terminal 1 is used for international travel, while flag carrier Philippine Airlines is using Terminal 2 for both its international and domestic flight operations.

Cebu Pacific and other local carriers and at least one foreign airline are using part of Terminal 3.

Local courts have ruled that while the government is partially operating Terminal 3, it should compensate Piatco and Fraport for reasonable costs incurred in the construction of the building.

In a recent hearing conducted by the House committee on transportation, Deputy Executive Secretary Teofilo Pilando said the Aquino administration was open to talks on a possible amicable settlement. The government claims that Terminal 3 was overpriced by as much as $350 million.

The Senate, which investigated the controversy, had discovered certain huge amounts of payments, which senators suspected were laundered funds. One payment was for $2 million and was made to a person identified with the husband of a former Malacañang official.

Fraport and Piatco are claiming as much as $850 million from the government as reimbursements for costs, investments and interest. 

The website “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports,” ranked the 30-year-old Terminal 1 fifth worst in the world, behind two in France, including Charles de Gaulle in Paris, and the Los Angeles and Moscow airports. The ranking was based on reviews of travelers who complained of “safety concerns, lack of comfortable seating, rude staff, hostile security, poor facilities, no (or few) services to pass the time, bribery, and general hassles of being in the airport.”

One reviewer described Terminal 1 as a “bombed-out ruin” and a “cattle yard, only worse.”

However, the website said “there is hope at the airport if you go to Terminal 3, where it is clean, spacious and has Internet connection.”