SUBIC BAY – Timothy Desmond, former CEO and Chairman of the Board of Ocean Adventure’s registered company Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium, Inc. (SBMEI), is on the run again, a fugitive wanted by the law.

Judge Ludovino Joseph Augusto Tobias, Jr. of the 4th Municipal Trial Court (MTC) of Bagac, Bataan has issued a Warrant for Desmond’s arrest, this time, to serve his sentence for having “been found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of Violation of Art. 172 (Falsification) in Relation to Article 171, Par. 4 of the RPC (Revised Penal Code).”

The judgment has become final and executory meting Desmond up to three years, six months and 21 days in prison.

“Every litigation must come to an end once a judgment becomes final, executory and unappealable,” Judge Tobias said in his June 8, 2020 order “for the execution of the judgment dated 22 October 2015.”

The warrant has been endorsed to officers of the law in known places where he holds residence or office, particularly the Philippine National Police (PNP) Station Commander of Morong, Bataan, Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Bataan PNP Provincial Commander, and the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

However, an attempt by the Bataan PNP to arrest Desmond at his residence at The Hill Residences, as well as in his office at Ocean Adventure, both in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, on June 22 failed as he has reportedly already gone into hiding.

TWO DECADES

Desmond’s travails has been going on for the past 2 decades, emanating from the September 14, 2002 Special Stockholder’s Meeting where businesswoman Virginia S. Dio was ousted as a member of the Board of Directors, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of the company, which the court ruled as irregular and in bad faith.

Desmond, a U.S. citizen, then SBMEI CEO and Board Chairman, and one Ruby Ong Biere, then operations manager and acting corporate secretary, the court ruled, were found to have conspired in making untruthful statements in the minutes of the meeting.

“The pervading motive of accused and his allies in the board of directors for the holding of the special stockholder’s meeting is ubiquitous in the entire proceedings that transpired therein,” then 4th Municipal Trial Court Judge Rolando S. Tungol said, “They simply acted in bad faith… they have to remove the complainant from her positions no matter how. They disregarded their by-laws from the time of sending of notice up to the time of voting for the removal of complainant.”

Prior to the conviction, Desmond already had two (2) standing warrants of arrest issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 72 of Olongapo City, one for the non-bailable offense of “Syndicated Estafa” and the other for “Simple Estafa”, cases filed also by Dio who pumped-in around $2.150 M capital to Ocean Adventure with the condition of being appointed as Treasurer and Chief Financial officer while her counsel Winston Ginez as Corporate Secretary.

Apparently fearing an impending arrest for the Syndicated Estafa arrest warrant, Desmond did not appear at the promulgation where he was convicted of “Falsification” which is now the object of Judge Tobias’ execution of judgment order and arrest warrant to serve his sentence.

After almost two years on the run dodging authorities, Desmond surrendered to the NBI National Capital Region (NCR) Office on August 2016 where he was detained for ten (10) months before being transferred to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa on June 9, 2017 where he spent the next 16 months.

He was granted provisional liberty and released on orders of Acting Presiding Judge Maricar P. Dela Cruz-Buban of MTC of Bagac who allowed him to post bail. Thereafter, Desmond appealed his conviction to the Regional Trial Court of Balanga which was, however, denied. Desmond elevated the denial of his appeal to the Court of Appeals which also denied the same. Hence, the judgment of conviction against him became final and executory, and which is now the object of the Warrant of Arrest issued by Judge Tobias, Jr. for the service of his sentence.

Early this year, on March 12, another warrant of arrest against Desmond was issued by Judge Ana Florence S. Cuntapay-Oamil of Balanga Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) for Perjury.

Authorities are presently hot on Desmond’s trail, monitoring airports and seaports to prevent him from getting out of the country, arrest and have him put behind bars to serve his sentence. (VVV)

The 240 hectares of property repossessed so far is part of the area SBMEI, in violation of its development commitment, failed to develop.

“For almost 20 years, the SBMEI failed to develop these areas to the detriment of the government,” she said. “The issue is much more than simply the P25 million that SBMEI owes us in back payments for its payment scheme, nor the P7 million in current billing,” she added. 

She said the takeover of the properties proceeded smoothly and without any untoward incident. 

The repossessed portions of the property at the Ilanin Forest here are designated as Area B, which measures 92 hectares; Area C, 97 hectares; and Area E, 51 hectares, or a total of 240 hectares. 

The three properties contained a total of 22 former ammunition bunkers, warehouses and other US Navy-era structures connected by tar-paved roads, which are in various states of disrepair, indicating that the government-owned properties were not maintained through the years by the lessor. 

Members of the SBMA takeover teams said that some of the bunkers were covered by dense undergrowth and were not easily located. In some areas, only piles of rubble remained where some structure should be, they added. 

Still, Eisma expressed gratitude to the SBMEI management for cooperating in the repossession despite it having filed a case against the SBMA on October 18 to thwart the implementation of the agency’s pre-termination order issued on September 27. 

“We also welcome the filing by SBMEI of a case in court because this move brings us one step closer to the resolution of this problem. Whatever the final decision of the court will be, you can count on the SBMA to honor it,” she added.

The SBMEI started operating the Ocean Adventure marine park project in 2002, but was later granted a 50-year lease starting January 2007 that covered 505 hectares, of which the firm has only developed a total of 11.6 hectares. 

Eisma said that with hundreds of hectares of property remaining undeveloped, the government has been losing a huge amount in unrealized income, as well as in lost employment opportunities, because SBMEI is only required to pay SBMA gross revenue shares, which was four percent of its gross income. 

“This means that if SBMEI was not earning any money from these undeveloped areas, then it didn’t have to pay SBMA anything. So where is justice in that?” she added.

For the developed areas that covers Ocean Adventure and Camayan Beach Resort, SBMEI has been given two (2) years to scale down operations and finally move out, unless it is able to negotiate with SBMA acceptable terms that will not be grossly disadvantageous to the the government.

“For now, or at least in the next two years, the employees of Ocean Adventure and Camayan Resort will keep their jobs. It is up to SBMEI, if they really care, to shape up to save their employees’ jobs,” Eisma said, “The ball is with SBMEI.” (30)