Ex-DOTC execs to face graft raps over NAIA-3

Former Transportation Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez and two other ex-officials will stand trial for graft in connection with alleged anomalies in the bidding process for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 project. The Sandiganbayan second division, in an 11-page resolution promulgated last August 6, denied with finality the three defendant's appeal on its December 2005 ruling that upheld their indictment by the Ombudsman for graft. Former Transportation Undersecretaries Primitivo Cal and Wilfredo Trinidad will stand trial along with Alvarez. Associate Justice Francisco Villaruz Jr. penned the resolution, with Associate Justices Edilberto Sandoval and Samuel Martires concurring. The Sandiganbayan ruling said the three accused failed to raise new arguments or questions of law. Prosecutors accused the three former Department of Transporation and Communication officials of favoring Paircargo Consortium – later incorporated as the Philippine International Air Terminal Co. Inc. or Piatco – when it was proclaimed as the winning bidder for NAIA-3 in 1996. "We maintain that the State must not be estopped from pursuing a case that is of paramount importance to its citizens particularly when official actions of its public officers had led to the execution of contracts that are not only in contravention of public policy but also one that could not stand the test of painstaking constitutional scrutiny," the Sandiganbayan said. The Supreme Court voided the $465 million contract in 2003 although it ordered the Philippine government to pay just compensation to the builder. Alvarez, chairman of the technical working panel that reviewed Paircargo's bid, argued that was a victim of personal persecution because other members of the technical committee were not included in the indictment. Trinidad, for his part, said the case should be dismissed because the information has similar elements to other charges filed in other Sandiganbayan divisions. Cal noted that the Sandiganbayan first division has already junked a similar graft case involving the same Terminal 3 project for lack of probable cause. -GMANews.TV