Lawyers seek SC action on plea to block hike in Naia fees
A group of lawyers on Monday urged the Supreme Court to act on their petition filed in April seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) against looming fee hikes at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
In an urgent motion, the lawyers led by Joel Butuyan asked the high court for the immediate resolution of their application for a TRO, preliminary injunction, and/or status quo ante order ahead of the scheduled increase in terminal fees on Sept. 14.
According to the petition, the passenger service charge or terminal fee is set to increase by 72.73 percent to P950 from P550 for every departing international passenger, and by 95 percent, or to P390 from P200, for every departing domestic passenger.
“We are here dealing with people’s hard-earned money, of which they are already being deprived every day without due process of law. Given the circumstances, the extreme urgency of and paramount necessity for a [TRO], writ of preliminary injunction or status quo ante order issued by the Honorable Court cannot be overstated,” the petitioners said.
Butuyan, along with lawyers Ma. Soledad Deriquito-Mawis, Antonio Gabriel La Viña, Rogel Rayel and Jose Mari Benjamin Francisco Tirol earlier filed a 182-page petition for certiorari and prohibition.
They urged the high court to declare unconstitutional, illegal and void both the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) Administrative Order (AO) No. 1, series of 2024, and the Naia Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project concession agreement.
Named respondents were Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin (representing Cabinet members); the Department of Transportation (DOTr); MIAA; the prequalification, bids and awards committee for the Naia PPP project; the PPP Governing Board; and private concessionaire New Naia Infra Corp. (NNIC).
Abuse of discretion
The concession agreement, dated March 18, 2024, is a contract between the DOTr, MIAA and NNIC covering the rehabilitation, operation, expansion and eventual transfer of Naia.
It grants NNIC the right to operate and maintain the airport for 15 years, extendable by another 10 years.
On Oct. 1, 2024, NNIC began collecting fees and charges at Naia under AO1, enforcing “substantially increased rates” ranging from higher vehicle parking fees, land lease rentals, and office space rentals, to aircraft landing and takeoff fees, tacking fees and passenger processing charges.
According to the petitioners, the respondent agencies “deliberately and with grave abuse of discretion ignored” the clear and unequivocal mandate of the Constitution, the Administrative Code, Batas Pambansa Blg. 325, MIAA’s Revised Charter, the PPP Code, and even the build-operate-transfer law when they approved the concession agreement.
They accused the respondents of evading their duty, disregarding applicable laws and long-standing jurisprudence on rate-fixing, defying constitutional principles of separation of powers, due process and equal protection, and “totally sacrificed the public welfare.”
If not restrained, the lawyers argued, the continued implementation of AO1 and the concession agreement would result in “grave injustice and irreparable damage” to millions of Filipinos and foreign travelers who are being made to pay fees and charges based on an “illegal” order.
While refunding the “illegal” collections could be possible, they lamented that it would be “immensely difficult.”
Airport charges
Apart from the scheduled increases in passenger service charges, the motion cited multiple increases in airport fees and charges since October 2024.
These included landing and takeoff fees for aircraft, which rose by around 220 percent.
They also pointed to aircraft parking rates for the first half-hour per aircraft up to 50,000 kilos, which increased by 255 percent to $31.50 from $2.04 for international operations, and by 1,433 percent to P406.75 from P26.52 for domestic operations.
Tacking fees, or charges when an aircraft uses loading bridges for passenger boarding or deplaning, likewise increased by almost 60 percent to $59.18 per hour from $36.99 for narrow-body aircraft, and by 60 percent to $88.88 from $55.55 for wide-body aircraft.
Meanwhile, airline office leases rose by 90 percent to a minimum of P950 per square meter a month, while leases for ground handlers jumped 50 percent to P1,400 per sqm—both subject to further increases at NNIC’s discretion.
Leases for airport lounges and other commercial spaces also increased to a minimum of P1,500 per sqm a month, leading in many cases to more than double the prices of goods and services compared to before NNIC’s takeover.
Some rates, the petitioners noted, now exceed P2,500 per sqm a month.
“The airline costs detailed above form part of the pricing mechanism of the airline companies and are definitely and inevitably passed on to the air travelers. In the same vein, the increased costs imposed on commercial establishments are surely passed on to air passengers and other consumers,” they said.
