OGCC: ESCOLANGO IS ALSO VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE SBMA BOARD
AS Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Administrator, Lawyer Randy B. Escolango is also OIC Vice Chairman of the SBMA Board, according to the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).
“Atty. Escolango’s designation as OIC Administrator automatically carries with it his assumption as OIC Vice Chairman of the SBMA Board under EO 340 series of 2004,” said Deputy Government Corporate Counsel Elpidio J. Vega.
“The OIC Administrator by virtue of his office shall be the OIC Vice Chairman of the SBMA Board of Directors, Vega said in Opinion 193 Series of 2016 released by the OGCC on Thursday, “Thus, Atty. Escolango is expected to discharge and to function as SBMA’s OIC Administrator and Vice Chairman…” he added.
The OGCC issued the opinion in response to Escolango’s letter dated 15 November 2016 seeking clarification. In the same Opinion, OGCC also said that “SBMA directors whose term expired and/or resignations are not yet acted upon or their successors have yet to appointed, may continue in office in hold-over capacity.”
To date, aside from Martin B. Diño as Chairman, President Duterte has appointed only two (2) other members of the SBMA Board, namely, Benny Antiporda and Stefani Saño. Antiporda replaced Bienvenido O. Benitez while Saño took over from Wilfredo S. Pineda.
“The appointment of Chairman Diño, designation of OIC Administrator Escolango and appointments of Mr. Antiporda and Mr. Saño as director has no effect on SBMA directors who tendered their courtesy resignations except on former Chairman/Administrator Garcia and Directors Benitez and Pineda,” Vega said.
The SBMA Board has not convened for several months now, thus, Diño has not presided on any Board meeting since his appointment on Sept. 23, 2016.
“With the OGCC’s opinion, we hope to finally convene the Board by recalling Directors whose resignations have not been acted upon or accepted by the president,” Escolango said, “we have a lot of pending matters that require the Board’s attention and action.”
The OGCC also took note that “Chairman Diño informed the Office of the President (OP) on 21 November 2016 that he assumed functions as SBMA Chairman/Administrator pursuant to Republic Act (RA) 7227” and that “The OP replied that Atty. Escolango’s designation as OIC Administrator has not been revoked ‘(a)nd more importantly, under Section 13(d) of Republic Act 7227, the Administrator of the SBMA shall be appointed by the President and no other.”
Despite his appointment by the president only as Chairman of the SBMA Board of Directors, Diño insists on also being the Administrator, citing a provision in RA 7227.
Diño declared himself the SBMA Administrator in an Office Memorandum on Oct. 10, 2016 sent to SBMA offices and locators but when he informed Malacañang of his assumption of the office and functions of Administrator on 21 Nov., he was rebuffed by the Office of the President which reiterated Escolango’s Oct. 19, 2016 designation as OIC Administrator that “remains in full force and effect.”
However, Diño remains defiant to the point of challenging the authority of Office of the President and Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea, who issued the designation of Escolango.
For the past two (2) months or so, Diño has been blocking and voiding Escolango’s actions, which stakeholders complain, has been sowing confusion among locators and would be investors resulting to lost opportunities for SBMA.
However, lately Escolango has started to assert his designation and has initiated moves to counter Diño’s actions.
The SBMA Employees’ Association has declared their support for Escolango and has decried the damage on SBMA’s image and lost revenues resulting from Diño’s actions.
The SBMA Law Enforcement Dept. (LED) has also affirmed their support of Escolango and has not recognized Diño’s “self-appointment” as manager of the department, on top of his being SBMA Chairman.
“As SBMA Chairman, Diño has no authority to designate anybody, including himself, to any position,” Major Vicente “Teng” Tolentino said, “only the Administrator, this time, OIC Escolango can do that, being an administrative function which the Chairman doesn’t have.”
Tolentino is the LED OIC Manager designated by Escolango.
“With a functioning Board of Directors, we hope to address pressing matters that will keep SBMA on tract,” Escolango said, “I hope Chairman Diño can be a team player and not remain an obstructionist. He is expected to help maintain, if not improve, the record-breaking performance of SBMA in the last 5 years.”
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