SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. decried on Monday the nearly five-year delay in the opening of the long-finished Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), saying it has severely set back the country’s drive to lure more foreign tourists and investors and deprived Filipino travelers of the opportunity to enjoy the convenience of a state-of-the-art, modern air terminal.

The so-called victory of the Philippine government in an international arbitration case on the idle Naia-Terminal 3 is “nothing to crow about,” the senator said, considering the enormous damage inflicted on the country by the prolonged and intolerable delay of the opening of the aviation facility.

Pimentel complained that the protracted legal dispute over the Naia-3, as a consequence of the government’s decision to unilaterally void its build-operate-transfer contract with the Philippine International Air Terminals Company (Piatco), has gravely impaired the confidence of the international business community in the country’s business environment.

He said the case filed by Piatco’s investment partner, Germany’s Fraport AG, over its inability to recoup its supposed $425-million capital in the Naia-3 project has irreparably strained diplomatic relations with Germany and scared away German investors.

In fact, he said, German investments in the Philippines plunged from $330 million in 2003 to nearly zero in 2004 while the German government opted to channel its overseas development assistance to the nongovernment organizations instead of the Arroyo government to manifest their disenchantment over the unresolved Naia-3 controversy.

“Given these adverse circumstances, there is hardly anything to rejoice over the decision of the Washington-based International Center for the Settlement of Industrial Disputes (Icsid) to dismiss Fraport’s claim for compensation for lack of jurisdiction,” the senator said.

He added that in terms of business opportunities and revenues that were lost, as well as the embarrassment the country has suffered due to the continued mothballing of the Naia-3, “the harm that has been caused by this fiasco is simply incalculable.”

“And because of this, the verdict of the World-Bank- Icsid [International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes], while favorable to our government, appears to be a pyrrhic victory,” he said.

Pimentel pointed out that the ruling does not mean the legal dispute over the terminal is over. In the first place, he noted that the arbitration panel threw out Fraport’s compensation claim on the ground that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. “This means that the panel did not rule on the merit of the case.”

He also noted that a related arbitration case is still being heard before the Singapore-based International Chamber of Commerce while the claim for just compensation by Piatco is being heard before a Pasay City Regional Trial Court.

While the WB-Icsid may have upheld the government’s claim about the irregular nature of Fraport’s investment in Naia-3 and the Supreme Court agreed with its claim of legal infirmities in the Piatco contract, the government is not without fault in the anomalies that tainted the project, said Pimentel.

Noting that the Naia-3 project was started by the Ramos administration and pursued by the Estrada and Arroyo administrations, Pimentel said the Arroyo administration did nothing to stop the construction of the air terminal and made an issue out of alleged defects in the Piatco contract only after the project was more than 90-percent completed.

“The Arroyo government did not find anything wrong with the Naia-3 contract while the project was going on. Then suddenly, it discovered that the deal was fraught with anomalies and disadvantageous to the government only when the airport terminal was about to open in November 2002,” Pimentel said. “Was it because at that stage, the government came under heavy pressure from powerful forces to nullify the deal with Piatco?”

Despite the unresolved legal problems, Pimentel said what is important is for the government to take the necessary steps to fast-track the repair of the Naia-3 and to pave the way for its opening as early as possible. He said the government should also be decisive in going after government personalities who were involved in the alleged fraud that attended the airport deal.

Pimentel insisted that the government continue negotiating with the contractor and investors in order to settle the compensation issue which, once solved, will render moot and academic pending cases with the courts and the international arbitration tribunal.

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SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. decried on Monday the nearly five-year delay in the opening of the long-finished Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), saying it has severely set back the country’s drive to lure more foreign tourists and investors and deprived Filipino travelers of the opportunity to enjoy the convenience of a state-of-the-art, modern air terminal.

A DISAPPOINTED Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. on Monday bewailed the noninclusion of the proposal for the establishment of a federal system in the peace talks between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), insisting that this could be a long-range and ultimate political solution to the incessant Muslim rebellion in the South.

A MILITANT legislator bared plans on Monday to ban “strategic lawsuits against public participation” to protect Filipino environmentalists, indigenous people advocates, journalists and activists from harassment suits by mining companies, oil companies and similar corporate interests.