Transport official faces P76m suit

Transport Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez is facing a P76m ($1.49m) plunder suit before the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged "conflict of interest" involving the construction of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal III.

Alvarez is the first public official under the present government to be the subject of plunder charge, a capital offence which concerns graft cases involving more than P50m.

The charge is punishable by death. According to Perfecto Yasay, lawyer of the Manila International Airport-Naia Association of Service Operators (Maso), Alvarez was involved in the company that constructed the Naia Terminal III, a violation of the law concerning "conflict of interest."

Alvarez reportedly owns 30 per cent of Wintrack Builders, the company which is undertaking the construction of the multi-billion peso airport terminal.

However, Alvarez had denied ownership of Wintrack, saying he and his wife Emelita had already divested themselves of their shareholdings in the company after Alvarez was appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last March in her Cabinet.

"Wintrack started excavation and site development of the airport terminal in 1999 and I was appointed only this year, but before that appointment, we had already sold our shares to other businessmen," he said during a radio interview.

Under Philippine law, public official are barred from being involved in any state project as an owner or part owner of the firm contracted by the government for that particular undertaking.