|
By Jonathan M. Hicap, Reporter
The postponement of the opening
of the unused Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 will not
affect the work of the court-appointed commission tasked to assess
the just compensation to be paid by the government to the consortium
that built the facility.
Ernesto Paguyo, chief of staff of
the commission, told The Manila Times that the commission’s work
is different. “That’s a separate thing,” he said.
In 2005 the Branch 117 of the
Pasay City Regional Trial Court appointed Dr. Florello Estuar,
Sofronio Ursal and Angelo Panganiban as members of the commission.
Paguyo said the commission’s
concern is to evaluate the actual value of the NAIA 3. Last year,
the government paid the Philippine International Air Terminals Co.
Inc. (Piatco) P3 billion as initial payment.
Paguyo said the government has
yet to submit the NAIA 3 plans despite a request from the commission
two months ago.
Paguyo said they have already
short-listed the international appraisers that will help the
commission in determining the value of the NAIA 3.
The Manila International Airport
Authority announced on Monday that the scheduled opening of the NAIA
3 on March 31 has been postponed due to structural defects found by
its consultants. No date has been set for the opening.
In a related development, the
losing bidder in the NAIA 3 project said the Philippine government,
in two arbitration cases abroad, could use the structural defects in
its defense.
Fraport AG filed a $425-million
investment claim against the Philippines before the Washington-based
International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
and Piatco is claiming $565 million before the Singapore-based
International Chamber of Commerce.
Lawyer Eduardo Ceniza, counsel of
Lucio Tan’s Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp. (AEDC) said the
Philippine legal panel earlier submitted the statement of aviation
and construction expert Richard Klenk to the ICSID that indicated
structural defects of the NAIA-3 were due to inferior materials used
and poor workmanship.
The legal panel also submitted
the statement of fraud examiner Howard Silverstone saying the
construction of the defective terminal was attended by massive
anomalies.
AEDC is asking the Supreme Court
to award it the right to operate the NAIA 3.
|
