Martin Diño shows copy of complaint he filed in the Ombudsman against SBMA officials in a press briefing in manila on Wednesday, sept. 27, 2017.-INQUIRER / Grig C. Montegrande
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Outgoing Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chair Martin Diño said he harbors no ill feelings towards President Rodrigo Duterte after losing his post to lawyer Wilma Eisma with whom he had a leadership feud.
Diño also extended his congratulations to Eisma, SBMA administrator, who was succeeded him as SBMA chair.
“Congratulations to chairman and administrator Eisma. I hope our projects [in the agency] will materialize,” Diño said in an interview at a local radio station here on Wednesday.
READ: SBMA feud ends as Palace names Eisma chair, administrator
But the former chair of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said he would still pursue the cases he filed against 13 SBMA officials with the Office of the Ombudsman.
“The cases should continue because I did not invent these. There is a COA (Commission on Audit) report. All they [SBMA officials] have to do is answer the charges,” Diño said.
“I came from VACC and the marching order from the President is to get rid of corruption in the government,” he added.
In July, Diño charged 13 officials with malversation, grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and grave abuse of authority in the Office of the Ombudsman over “unaccounted assets” and lapses in disbursement transactions.
READ: 13 SBMA execs sued over ‘unaccounted assets’
Malacañang on Monday repealed Executive Order No. 340 that had separated the powers and jurisdiction of the chair and administrator of SBMA which fueled a leadership squabble between Dino and Eisma.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea issued Executive Order No. 42 to consolidate the functions of the two positions under one leader, Eisma.
Section 3 of EO 42 provides for the appointment by the President of “the Administrator of the SBMA, who shall be the ex-officio Chairman of the SBMA Board.”
The SBMA chair used to perform the functions of administrator until then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued in 2004 Executive Order No. 340 that separated “the powers, functions and duties of the chair of the SBMA board” and designated an administrator to serve as the Freeport’ chief executive officer.