Directors of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), operator of Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA), posted bail on Nov. 26, 2021 and vowed to exhaust all legal remedies to prove their innocence and counter the charges of anti-dummy law violations.
The group posted bail after the Regional Trial Court of Lapu-Lapu City Branch 68 issued warrants of arrest despite their omnibus motion seeking the dismissal of the case for lack of probable cause and due process, among others.
They assured that operations and services at the MCIA will not be disrupted.
The Ombudsman had indicted 14 GMCAC directors and officers for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
They allegedly acted in conspiracy with one another to allow foreign nationals to perform executive functions, particularly to manage and operate the MCIA in violation of the Anti-Dummy Law.
Those indicted were Manuel Louie B. Ferrer, Edgar B. Saavedra, Oliver Y. Tan, Jez Dela Cruz, Srinivas Bommidala, P. Sripathy, Vivek Singhai, Andrew Acquaah-Harrison, Ravi Bhatnagar, Ravishankar Saravu, Michael Lenane, Sudarshan MD, Kumar Gaurav, Magesh Nambiar, and Rajesh Mandan.
Megawide, a Filipino-owned listed company, and its partner GMR from India were awarded in 2014 the 25-year public private partnership contract to upgrade MCIA and operate its landside facilities, including Terminal 2 (T2) which it built and opened in July 2018. (MTVI/Ventures Cebu)