Court of Appeals orders govt to pay Piatco $371M

THE Court of Appeals (CA) on Thursday ordered the government to pay the Philippine International Air Terminals Co., Inc. (Piatco) $371 million for the construction of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

In a 31-page decision penned by Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas, Jr. and concurred in by Associate Justices Rebecca De Guia-Salvador and Samuel Gaerlan, the CA modified the 2011 ruling of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 117 awarding just compensation to Piatco in the amount of $175.79 million, which is less than the P3 billion or $59.44 million already paid to Piatco in compliance with a Supreme Court (SC) ruling in 2004 that it had to be paid first for building the terminal before its actual takeover could proceed.