The Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed its 2015 decision ordering the government to pay the Philippine International Air Terminals Company Inc. (PIATCO) the remaining $267-million of the $326-million “just compensation” for building the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (Naia 3).
Its order also partly granted the Philippine government’s motion for reconsideration by declaring that the full ownership of the Naia 3 shall be turned over to the government upon full payment of the just compensation.
The high court, however, did not mention about the government’s prayer to peg the just compensation to only $104.5 million.
READ: Gov’t to SC: PIATCO entitled only to $104M instead of $510M
Just compensation is the full and fair equivalent of the property taken from its owner by the expropriator, in this case, the government.
“The Republic is hereby ordered to make direct payment of the just compensation due to PIATCO,” the high court said.
It also ordered the government to defray the expenses of the Board of Commissioners (BOC) which amounted to $3.5-million.
READ: SC orders gov’t to pay $510M to NAIA-3 builder
The BOC is composed of three commissioners whose task is to determine the amount of compensation for PIATCO.
The high court came up with the said amount when it pegged the cost of valuation at $300,206,693.00 then added amounts for excess concession space, four-level retail complex, exclusions due to structural issues then deducted the depreciation and deterioration cost worth $36,814,613.00.
As of December 2002, the replacement cost was $297,996,738.00 multiplied by 1.097 percent inflation rate. The total replacement cost as of Dec. 21, 2004 was $326,932,221.26 plus 12% interest per year earned from Sept. 11, 2006 to June 30,2013 and six percent yearly interest from July 1, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2014 worth $242,810,918.54. Then, the high court deducted P59,438,604.00 proffered value which the government paid in 2006.
The amount will continue to earn six percent interest per annum until the amount is fully paid.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, Associate Justices Mariano Del Castillo, Francis Jardeleza and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa inhibited from the case. RAM