Among the campaign promises made by President Duterte, the rehabilitation of NAIA was the one I held on to with keen anticipation. Like most Filipinos who travel frequently, the chronic delays and sardine-like conditions at NAIA have taken its toll. After having lived with the worst airport in the world for a decade, I looked forward to sweeping changes under President Duterte.
In 2018, government announced the privatization of NAIA, a move that was widely applauded. The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) awarded the original proponent status (OPS) to a consortium comprised of the country’s seven largest conglomerates. We thought the campaign promise was finally going to be fulfilled. Instead, the public was made to wait for two years as both government and the consortium fleshed out the terms of the deal. When the pandemic struck, negotiations collapsed and we were back to square one. Two years passed for nothing!
Last July, the OPS was offered to Megawide Corporation, who was the second in-time bidder back in 2018. Government granted Megawide the OPS on the proviso that it accepts all of government’s conditions, including those that the consortium deemed unacceptable due to cost considerations. In addition, government required Megawide to invest in a railway system to connect all of NAIA’s terminals in exchange for a longer franchise period.
Government’s conditions were stiff, to say the least. But having built and operated the multi-awarded Mactan Cebu International Airport, the management of Megawide felt it could transform NAIA like it did the Cebu Airport. Thus, it accepted government’s terms and was consequently awarded the OPS.
I have seen Megawide’s plan and it is one that we Filipinos will be proud of.
NAIA’s transformation will take place in three phases at a cost of P109 billion. The intent is to make the country’s principal gateway a shining symbol of our progressiveness as a nation. In the first year, airside capacity will be expanded to solve runway congestion once and for all. Full-length parallel taxiways will be built, along with additional rapid-exit taxiways. The second runway will be extended as well. With this, peak hour capacity will increase from 40 to 60 movements per hour.
Simultaneously, visible improvements will be done to the terminals on year one. Within 24 months, all existing terminals will be rehabilitated, for which the total area will be doubled to approximately 700,000 square meters. Plus, a new terminal will be built to connect terminals one and two. When completed, both the airside facilities and the terminals will be able to handle 65 million passengers a year, two times its capacity today.
But things are never easy in this country, as graft always gets in the way. Our sources informed us that a conglomerate with conflicting business interest is dead set on indefinitely derailing NAIA’s rehabilitation and/or grabbing the project from Megawide. Not only is this company willing to deprive the whole country of a decent gateway for Metro Manila, it is said to be using its “allies” in Congress to do the demolition job.
It’s disappointing (but not surprising) how certain congressmen have picked up this cause, especially since derailing NAIA’s rehabilitation goes against national interest. A congressman even had the temerity of accusing DOTr Secretary Art Tugade of being incompetent and corrupt. Sec. Tugade has been among the few Cabinet secretaries who has over-delivered and makes President Duterte look good. The comments were reckless and unfair.
The company, through its congressional “allies,” hurled one accusation after another against the OPS holder, the most serious of which was its supposed lack of financial capability. But sufficiency of Megawide’s capital has since been satisfied and submitted to NEDA. Blunted, another line of attack was crafted. This time, through a court case filed by a certain Atty. Larry Iguidez. The complaint was filed against Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), a government agency under the Department of Transportation (DOTr), as well as the 15 board members of GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC).
The accusation is that as a public utility, the Mactan Cebu Airport should be controlled and managed by a Filipino entity. Atty. Larry Iguidez alleges that GMCAC is not majority owned by Filipinos. He further alleges that MCIAA acted in bad faith by allowing the deal to push through notwithstanding.
The allegations are, of course, untrue and is said not to hold water in court. But the purpose of the case is to draw a shadow of doubt on the uprightness of the DOTr and compel it to withdraw the OPS granted to Megawide.
Megawide won its OPS fair and square. Parties that wish to grab the project from it can do so in the Swiss challenge. That is the process. But evidently, this conglomerate is unwilling to go through the Swiss challenge since it will have to top the terms that Megawide acceded to. Instead, it wants to start from scratch and impose terms that are favorable to itself and less favorable to government.
The machinations of this conglomerate and congressmen is descriptive of why the Philippines is the perennial underachiever in the region. Here, the narrow elite, composed of high level politicians and business moguls, are allowed to bamboozle the system using money, influence and its cachè of political debt. What makes it a tragedy is that government itself bends to the system.
NAIA’s rehabilitation, and the politics that surround it, is a stunning reminder of the graft and corruption the Philippines has come to be known for. Government should nip it in the bud.
My assets inside the DOTr informed me that government is caving under the machinations of this conglomerate and has voted to revoke the OPS of Megawide. If this revocation is ratified, then this puts us back to square one. It will cause President Duterte to fail on his promise. It will cause us all to be deprived of a decent airport for many more years. It will be disaster for everyone except the conglomerate and its minions, who will laugh all the way to the bank.
The unfair treatment Megawide, a company which plays by the book, will undoubtedly scare investors from participating in government’s Build Build Build program. It will be another stigma to the country’s reputation for years.
The only way out of this quagmire is to uphold the OPS awarded to Megawide and to let the privatization process run its course. The manner by which this administration handles this case will define its values and will make its way in history books. Let us hope it does the right thing.
Email: andrew_rs6@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @aj_masigan