Wednesday

SC: Lucio Tan's argument on NAIA-3 flawed

Written by Aries Rufo
Monday, 21 April 2008

The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed for being “substantially and procedurally flawed” bordering on “absurdity” the petition of the Lucio Tan-led Asia Emerging Dragon Corp. (AEDC) to operate the mothballed Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3).

In a 62-page en banc decision penned by Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, the tribunal junked for lack of merit Tan’s move to compel the Department of Transportation and Communication and the Manila International Airport Authority to award the NAIA-3 to AEDC.

The decision said the arguments of AEDC that it has the automatic right to operate the terminal on the sole ground that it is the original proponent “is substantially and procedurally flawed” as the rights and privileges of an original proponent to an unsolicited project proposal are never meant to be absolute.

"Otherwise, the original proponent can hold the government hostage and secure the award of the infrastructure project based solely on the fact that it was the first to submit a proposal. The absurdity of such a situation becomes even more apparent when considering that the proposal is unsolicited by the government," the SC ruled.

(Since at the onset, Lucio Tan’s bid on NAIA 3 had been known as that of a crook’s, absurd to the peril of the country’s economy. The dissenting justices did not see what we saw? Money surely talked to these! Look, this AEDC was initially composed of Henry Sy, John Gokongwei, Alfonso Yuchengco, Andrew Gotianun and this tax cheating bogus philanthropist – Lucio Tan. Why did they all abandon him to be left alone? You ask them. They will tell you that they could not stomach his evil schemes!)

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