Why they're belittling RP court triumphs

There’s an attempt to discredit as pyrrhic RP’s two victories in the NAIA Terminal-3 issue. Detractors are alleging that the government proved nothing in international courts after paying the US law firm White & Case millions of dollars in fees.

The claim is farthest from the truth. German firm Fraport had sued RP in the International Commission for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington. Piatco, 62-percent secretly owned by Fraport, had sued RP in the International Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. Both cried breach of contract when the RP Department of Justice, Senate and Supreme Court voided the contract to build and operate the new airport. While Fraport demanded $425 million in damages, Piatco asked for $675 million. From their defeats in the hands of White & Case, RP thus saved $1.1 billion (P50 billion). That amount cannot be puny by any standard.

Notably from Internet reports, White & Case proved that Piatco and Fraport had broken RP anti-dummy laws. This was despite the attempt of the Gloria Arroyo admin to lose the cases by having its lawyers muddle the legal definition of dummying. Too, despite the testimonies against RP by certain Filipino officials, one of whom now sits in the Noynoy Aquino cabinet. The ICSID and ICC have policies against public disclosure of proceedings. Details can be published only with the assent of complainants Fraport and Piatco. The two firms are unlikely to issue such consent. The findings of criminal violations can open them to lawsuits in the Philippines and in Germany. Such lawsuits can severely weaken their legal position in the government’s expropriation of the Terminal-3. Executives of Fraport, partly owned by the German federal government, the state of Hesse and the city of Frankfurt, may go to jail. A German stockholder, whom the executives had sued for libel, may end up the one collecting damages from them.

Also now being questioned in the media is the very method of hiring White & Case. Allegedly there was no public bidding as well in hiring the legal services of Filipino counterparts, retired Justice Florentino Feliciano and now Justice Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno. The line, released on the eve of the Manila visit of White & Case lead counsel Caroline Lamm, aims to confuse. The law actually exempts from public bidding the hiring of legal, medical and certain professional services. This is because expertise and fees can vary drastically. Still, then-Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo was extra careful. His office, authorized to hire legal services for specialized cases, formally conducted a canvass of three US firms and several locals. Focus was on lawyers experienced in international trade arbitration and litigation. It ended up tapping Lamm, immediate past president of the 400,000-strong American Bar Association, and Feliciano, who teaches international law.

It’s no longer part of Lamm’s and Feliciano’s duties, but their efforts led to unexpected discoveries. Like, some of Piatco-Fraport’s execs were skimming corporate funds via bank accounts in the British Virgin Islands layered in Hong Kong. A famous couple also got bribes from the money-laundering account, in the name of newborn corporations that carried their initials. The payoffs were made through a certain Alfonso Liongson, a supposed PR man whom Piatco hired for four months for a fee of over a hundred-million dollars.

Likewise exposed was the later desire of the Arroyo admin to lose the RP cases in Washington and Singapore. Hopefully, the RP victories can lead to the solution of the murder of assistant solicitor general Nestor Balocillo and his son, and the correct valuation of the Terminal-3.

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Sigma Kappa Pi marks its 42nd year tonight, Wednesday, with a 7 p.m. get-together at the Recom Gazebo, Caloocan City Hall. Founders Doty Abaya, Mindo David, and Jack Gan welcome all alumni and chapter brods. RSVP: Magno Salva, (02) 5566924; OJ Juanir, (0928) 7167777; Jay Soto, (0917) 8444464.

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 “Life is so serious that it must be lived lightheartedly.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: [email protected].