A regional trial court in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu dismissed the anti-dummy case against the executives of infrastructure company Megawide Construction Corp.
The company said Tuesday it received an order dated June 14 from the Regional Trial Court of Lapu-Lapu City, Branch 68, dismissing the criminal case against the directors and officers of Megawide in their capacity as directors of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. for the alleged violation of the Anti-Dummy Law.
The court dropped the complaint against Megawide president and chief executive Edgar Saavedra, vice president Jez Dela Cruz, executive director Louie Ferrer and director Oliver Tan.
“The omnibus order explained, among others, that the dismissal of the case was necessitated by the enactment of Republic Act. No. 11659 signed into law last 21 March 2022, which clearly excluded airport operations and maintenance from the definition of a public utility; thereby removing the applicability of the nationality restriction to GMCAC in operating the Mactan-Cebu International Airport,” Megawide said.
RA 11569, or the amended Public Service Act, excludes telecommunications, domestic shipping, railways and subways, airlines, expressways and tollways and airports from the definition of a public utility. This effectively removes the 40-percent foreign ownership cap for public utilities under the Constitution.
“Furthermore, the omnibus order stated that RA No. 11659 applies to the Megawide respondents due to the retroactive effect of laws favorable to the accused,” the company said.
Megawide said it always complied with all applicable laws, rules and regulations covering the concession agreement for MCIA, and the government’s public-private partnership program, as the project was officially awarded to the Megawide-GMR consortium in 2014.
The GMR-Megawide Consortium emerged as the highest bidder after offering to undertake the project for P14.4 billion.
One of the Aquino administration’s PPP projects, the Mactan airport venture involves the construction of a world-class international passenger terminal building, with a capacity of about 8 million passengers per year; renovation and expansion of the terminal; installation of all the required equipment; and the operation of both new and existing facilities.
Megawide incurred a net loss of P279.89 million in the first quarter on P4.16-billion consolidated revenues.
The company said the construction segment delivered P3.79-billion revenues in the first three months, up by 11 percent from P3.42 billion a year ago. Revenues from airport operations, together with airport merchandising activities, amounted to P238.93 million in the three-month period, up from P115.08 million a year earlier.