DILG door opens for Martin Diño after SBMA window closes

Martin Diño. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

(Updated, 12:42 p.m.) A day after his reported removal from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), former chair Martin Diño disclosed on Wednesday that he was offered a post at the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

In a press conference in Manila, Diño said that he was summoned to the Malacañang and was offered the job as DILG’s undersecretary for barangay (village) affairs.

“Totoo po, pinatawag po ako sa Malacañang at ako ay inoferan ng posisyon, ito po yung undersecretary for barangay affairs (It’s true that I was summoned at Malacañang and was offered the undersecretary position for barangay affairs),” he said.

“At nung nakausap po ako ng Presidente, sinabi niya nga sa akin na kung maaari ay tulungan ko siya dito sa barangay government. At ako po ay isang sundalo kung ano po ang kagustuhan ng ating pangulo ay susundin ko,” he added.

(When I talked to the President, he asked me to help him in the barangay movement. I am just a soldier, and I will follow whatever the President wants me to do.)

President Rodrigo Duterte appointed lawyer Wilma Eisma on Monday as the new SBMA chairman and administrator.

READ: SBMA feud ends as Palace names Eisma chair, administrator

Diño maintained that he was not sacked from his SBMA position, but a powerful group lobbied for his removal in the agency.

“We will protect our President dahil ako po ay matagal nang inaagrabyado sa loob ng Subic pero hindi ho ako nagsusumbong (because for the longest time I was aggrieved inside Subic but I did not complain),” Diño said.

He also said he never received any salary, only per diem during meetings, from his 11-month stint at the agency. Even his daughter, a former manager of a clothing brand, did not get anything even after she left the SBMA.

“Ganito inipit nitong grupo sa loob Subic—inipit nila ‘yung pampasweldo, inipit nila ‘yung mga tao na ‘wag magkasweldo. And yet nagtrabaho po kami, nagtrabaho nang tapat sa gobyerno,” he explained.

(This was how this group in Subic tried to suppress us—they tried to quell the salaries and the people so they won’t receive their salaries. And yet we did our jobs, we worked honestly for the government.)

Diño was the original candidate of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban Party) for the 2016 elections until he was substituted by Duterte. /idl