Piatco drops Singapore lawsuit, will pursue compensation claim

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Posted on January 27, 2012 08:30:07 PM

A FIRM battling the Philippine government over the expropriation of an airport terminal on Friday confirmed that it had withdrawn a case filed in Singapore, but said it would still be pursuing its claim for compensation.

“We still have an ongoing case — the one in Pasay RTC (regional trial court) which was elevated to the Court of Appeals — and this is where we’ll focus for now,” said Moises S. Tolentino, Jr., vice-president for legal and public affairs of Philippine International Airport Terminals Co., Inc. (Piatco).

The Pasay court last May ruled that the government owed Piatco $175.78 million for Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA-3), well below the consortium’s claim of $846.42 million. Piatco subsequently elevated the matter to the appellate court, which has yet to issue a decision.

In November last year, meanwhile, the High Court of Singapore junked a Piatco petition seeking the reversal of an international arbitration tribunal’s ruling that favored the Philippine government.

Piatco also appealed that but has now decided to withdraw as it had become too expensive to pursue, Mr. Tolentino said.

“Pursuing the case abroad is already bleeding us dry,” he said. “For now, we’ll pursue the one in the Court of Appeals.”

Piatco was awarded the NAIA-3 contract in 1997 and the terminal was supposed to open in 2002. The Supreme Court in 2003 voided the deal due to irregularities but also ordered that Piatco be paid for work already done.

The government moved to take over NAIA-3 after compensation talks broke down and to date it has been unable to maximize the use of the facility given continuing litigation.

Piatco’s German partner, Fraport AG, is also pursuing a claim against the government at the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.