THE Supreme Court yesterday dealt the Emilio Yap-owned Manila
Hotel Corp. another legal blow after it denied its second motion to intervene in
the pending case filed by the Asia's Emerging Dragon Corp. (AEDC) to operate
Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA-3).
The ruling came on the heels of another rejection of MHC's
motion to intervene in taking over the airport facility by virtue of being a
stockholder of the Philippine Air Terminal Co. Inc. (Piatco), the consortium
which contracted to build and operate NAIA-3 before the deal was voided by the
SC due to several irregularities.
In the same decision dated March 11, the SC ruled that its
December 2005 decision directing the government to pay Piatco P3 billion has
already become final as of March 17, 2006.
The nullification of the Piatco contract became final and
executory in December 2006 but this did not stop MHC from filing a second motion
for intervention to stop the Lucio Tan-led AEDC from also taking over the
facility on the ground that AEDC was the original project proponent.
The SC said the MHC took the "improper remedy" in seeking to
intervene in the case, adding that if allowed to intervene, the proceedings
would only become unnecessarily "complicated, expensive and interminable, and
will only unduly delay and prolong the adjudication of the rights of the
original parties.
The tribunal said MHC failed to substantiate its claims in
its motion for intervention that because of its substantial stake in Piatco, it
has legal interest in the litigation over the right to run the mothballed
airport.
The SC pointed out that MHC has no connection at all to
NAIA-3, being a mere stockholder of Piatco which built it.
MHC earlier informed the SC that it has a 20 percent stake in Piatco and it
has an agreement with the German firm Fraport AG Frankfurt Services Worldwide
for the purchase of its 30 percent equity shareholdings in Piatco for $200
million. The hotel firm asked the SC to allow it to operate and manage Terminal
3 for 25 years, with 82.5 percent of the profits to be distributed to various
government and charitable institutions. - Evangeline C. de Vera
