Not a win by any measure C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 08/18/2010

Not a win by any measure

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 08/18/2010 Now, we have to take back our words. Not long after we echoed the administration’s hallelujahs for reportedly winning our two arbitration cases against Philippine International Air Terminals Corp. (Piatco) (the joint venture company majority owned by the Cheng family of PairCargo), and its partner, Fraport, before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Singapore and the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington DC, respectively, we are being confronted with information that far from winning, we actually lost big time. Wow!! How so? Well, per verified reports, while the government actually won the two cases involving $1.1 billion ($565-million Piatco claim and $465-million Fraport claim) it never won any of its 23 counter claims against the two companies. Worse, the ICC ruled that it deemed Piatco a “builder in good faith” thus paving the way for the recovery of expenses in the construction of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in accordance with an earlier Supreme Court (SC) ruling that allowed for the filing of a case for “just compensation” after the government expropriated the property on grounds that the contract terms were “grossly disadvantageous” to the government..... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100818com4.html

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