ICSID ruling didn't make PHL liable to Fraport's claims - Sol Gen

A recent decision by Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) does not mean that the Philippines is liable to pay a German company's compensation claims over the Ninoy Aquino International Airport-3, according to the solicitor general. Washington's ad hoc ICSID on Dec. 23 restored the right of Fraport AG, a German transportation company that builds and runs airports, to file an arbitration case against the Philippines. The arbitration body's decision does not affect a German company’s compensation claims over NAIA-3, Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz clarified in a statement Tuesday. Cadiz said the ICSID decision had no impact on Fraport's compensation claims, and did not indicate the Philippines is liable for anything. "The decision merely provides Fraport the opportunity to commence a new arbitration and to present its claims again. Likewise, the Republic is entitled to present the evidence against Fraport again," said Cadiz. The government is still entitled to maintain its argument that Fraport violated Philippine anti-dummy and other anti-corruption laws. "The Republic therefore retains the right to reassert all of its defenses against Fraport’s claims, including its arguments relating to Fraport’s violation of the Anti-Dummy Law and anti-corruption laws," Cadiz said. Fraport is a major investor in Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. or PIATCO, owner of the concession to build and operate NAIA-3. "Should Fraport choose to refile its treaty claims, the Republic therefore will call upon Fraport to disclose the evidence of its expenditures on the [NAIA-3] and will call upon Fraport and the German government to produce all of the evidence relating to the project seized by German prosecutors from Fraport and from the offices and homes of its officials and former officials," said the solicitor general. Malacañang earlier belittled the ICSID decision, saying it will not affect Philippine ownership of the airport terminal. Opportunity to review The Philippine government previously won an arbitration case involving the NAIA-3 before the International Chamber of Commerce-International Court of Arbitration in Singapore. In August 2007, an ICSID tribunal also dismissed Fraport's claims because it supposedly violated the Philippines anti-dummy law. Fraport and PIATCO challenged these decisions before the ICSID ad hoc committee. The ICSID committee last month annulled the August 2007 decision. It ruled that the tribunal failed to give Fraport the opportunity to review the Philippine Department of Justice special prosecutor ruling regarding anti-dummy law violations. — With Jam Sisante/VS, GMANews.TV