What Koko should know

A news article titled “Koko: PDP-Laban backs Diño in SBMA squabble” (News, 6/24/17) threw the spotlight on Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III’s show of support to help bolster the sagging image of his PDP-Laban partymate Martin Diño, the Palace-appointed chair of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). Diño is currently embroiled in a squabble with SBMA Administrator Wilma Eisma over management functions. The
article mentioned Pimentel’s declaration of PDP-Laban’s full support for Diño’s so-called “aggressive campaign against smuggling and corruption in the SBMA.”

Pimentel needs to be enlightened on what’s really happening in the country’s premier show window to the world.

First, the squabble at the SBMA is not about smuggling and corruption in the agency; it is about mandate and simple division of labor. Since his first day in Subic, Diño has been very vocal with his intention to also assume office as SBMA administrator, a position that Malacañang, on two occasions, did not entrust to him—the first time, when Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea designated lawyer Randy Escolango as OIC-administrator in October 2016; the second time, when President Duterte himself appointed lawyer Eisma as full-fledged administrator in December last year.

True, Diño might be good at his “aggressive campaign” against smuggled sugar in Subic. The truth is, these goods haven’t even entered Subic territory. His intentions may be laudable, but they do not in any way justify his “stealing” other people’s duties, going as far as to appoint himself administrator in defiance of Malacañang’s wishes, and common sense and logic.

Pimentel affirmed his confidence in Diño’s efforts to boost the beleaguered financial position of the SBMA. Ironically, the Senate president himself has been accused of frittering away millions of pesos in SBMA funds for travels abroad (without any perceivable benefit to the agency), and for unofficial outings in restaurants and hotels in and around Subic Bay.

“Beleaguered financial position of the SBMA”? Fake news: The SBMA on record posted more than P615 million in earnings in just four months this year.

We all agree with Pimentel: We need “leaders who have no qualms with implementing radical solutions to address persistent problems.” But we beg to differ with his opinion that it is
Diño who should lead Subic to its full potential.

Diño can’t. A fact made more apparent by his lack of qualifications to head a crucial agency like the SBMA. His appointment to the SBMA is a disservice to the agency and to Subic Bay Freeport Zone investors. In fact, if President Duterte really has no qualms about implementing radical solutions to address persistent problems, then he should boot Diño out of the SBMA.

Of course, we cannot expect Pimentel to understand this; as the head of PDP-Laban, he seems to feel that he has the obligation to come to the aid of a partymate, no matter the unreason. To recall, in an Oct. 3, 2016 letter, he urged the President to no longer appoint any administrator, “since my understanding of the law is that Mr. Diño, as chairman of the SBMA Board, is also the administrator of the SBMA pursuant to Section 13(d) of Republic Act No. 7227.” That was not only a flawed reading of the law, it was a deliberate twisting of facts. RA 7227 provides for the appointment of a professional manager who shall serve as  administrator and, at the same time, as an ex-officio chair of the board.

Pimentel should know better, but he chooses partymate over truth, justice and everything principled politicians fight for. I’m sure his father, Nene Pimentel, an esteemed nationalist and statesman, one of the 12 senators who rejected the continued stay of the US bases in the Philippines, would tell him that it was never the intent of those who worked for the creation of the SBFZ that the SBMA be a political reward for anybody. Not even for a former barangay captain who filed a certificate of candidacy just to pave the way for President Duterte.

ANTON DELEON, [email protected]