President Arroyo has appointed former presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor as the head of the new powerful task force that would work on the immediate opening of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport International Passenger Terminal 3 (NAIA-3).
Mrs. Arroyo signed last June 9, Executive Order No. 732 creating the Presidential Task Force on the NAIA-3 that was "mandated to ensure the immediate opening and operation of Terminal III."
In her EO, she said the NAIA-3 was a major infrastructure project initiated in 1997 to service heavy passenger traffic.
"Since its construction in 1998, Terminal III has not been operational due to several legal, technical and other controversies," she said in her order. "The immediate opening and operation of Terminal III is of paramount national importance."
The government in 2004 took expropriated and took physical control of the facility after the Supreme Court ruled that the contract to build it with the Philippine International Air Terminal Co. (Piatco) and its German partner, Fraport AG, was onerous.
Since then, the NAIA-3 remained closed amid ongoing arbitration cases in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Singapore and in the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington D.C.
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