The Department of Transportation (DOTr) maintained that the concession agreement for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project was legal and transparent.
Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon emphasized during a press briefing that the agreement underwent a proper bidding process, with guidance from the Asian Development Bank.
“This was a properly bidded out concession agreement, advised no less than by the Asian Development Bank, so the government stands by the agreement and the process by which the agreement was signed,” Dizon said.
This came after a group of lawyers filed a 182-page petition before the Supreme Court (SC), seeking to halt the implementation of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) Revised Administrative Order No. 1 and the NAIA PPP Project Concession Agreement. They requested a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, or a status quo ante order.
Petitioners Joel Butuyan, Soledad Derequito-Mawis, Tony La Viña, Roger Rayel, and Jose Mari Benjamin Francisco Tirol argued that the government failed to follow the newly enacted Republic Act No. 11966 or the PPP Code, in the bidding, awarding, and execution of the deal. They claimed the process followed the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law, which had already been repealed.
Dizon declined to address the specifics of the petition, stating, “It’s very difficult for us to react because it’s already in the Supreme Court.”
