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Aquino: Govt will settle its row with Fraport legally


President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III said the Philippine government will resolve through legal means its dispute with the German transport company Fraport AG on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 issue. In an ambush interview in Subic on Thursday, Aquino said while there have been "a lot of dialogues" between the German ambassador and members of the Aquino administration, the issue will be resolved legally. German Ambassador to the Philippines Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch's earlier requested Malacañang "to bring the parties involved to the negotiating table in order to facilitate a legal, fair and timely solution for an inherited problem." "There are so many issues that really have to be settled, amongst them yung compensation for those who have constructed it and there is a dispute as to what is the right compensation. We believe that we were overpriced in the construction and there has to be a lot of remedial work that should be done," Aquino said. "But the end point is we are looking forward to resolving all of these issues but in a legal manner and consistent with our fight against alleged corruption," said the president. Aquino reiterated that the Aquino administration wants to resolve the issue as soon as possible. "We want to make it operational as soon as possible to the benefit of all the airline passengers that will be coming and utilizing the airport," he said. Government's row with Fraport Fraport, a Frankfurt-based company that builds and runs airports, had an agreement with the Philippine government for the establishment of the NAIA Terminal 3. However, the Arroyo government had ordered the takeover of the project in 2007 after persistent questions about the original contract and charges of mismanagement. Germany is putting pressure on Manila to renegotiate the 2007 takeover by the Philippine government of the Terminal 3 international airport project. The Arroyo government had ordered the takeover of the NAIA 3 project in 2007 after persistent questions about the original contract and charges of mismanagement. Talks between the government and Fraport led to an extortion complaint filed by the latter with the World Bank. The firm alleged that three of then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's aides demanded million-peso in kickbacks in exchange for favorable government action. Arroyo later aborted the contract with PIATCO, the Philippine company formed by Fraport and its local partners. The Philippine government then won an arbitration case involving NAIA 3 before the International Chamber of Commerce-International Court of Arbitration in Singapore. In August 2007, an International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal also dismissed Fraport's claims for compensation because it supposedly violated the Philippines' anti-dummy law. Fraport and PIATCO challenged these decisions before an ad hoc committee of the ICSID. Last month, the ICSID committee nullified the August 2007 decision, ruling that the tribunal failed to give Fraport the opportunity to review the Philippine Department of Justice special prosecutor ruling regarding anti-dummy law violations. Its decision asserted the right of Fraport to file an arbitration case against the Philippines. NAIA 3 has been partially open since 2008 but its full operation has been delayed for at least eight years now. – VVP, GMANews.TV

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