BAGUIO CITY – A former official of this resort city has been tagged as behind the smear campaign of the president of the John May Management Corp. so he could get her post.
President Aquino was urged last week by some JHMC employees to take action against JHMC president and chief executive officer Dr. Jaime Eloise Agbayani for alleged corruption and mismanagement.
But 10 out of the 17 employees who signed the complaint against Agbayani retracted their signatures, stating they were misled into signing the document. Those who retained their signatures were Arthur Leonard Odsey, Benjamin Quinio, Jr. and Melquiades Bada.
In a letter to Agbayani and vice president and chief operating officer Mita Dimalanta, the 10 JHMC employees said they were revoking their signatures in the letter addressed to President Aquino.
Agbayani said the employees withdrew their signatures on their own and no one harassed or forced them to do so.
Those who recanted their signatures were Bobby V. Akia, LADD manager; Michelle B. Garcia, business and marketing officer, Editha P. Malong, environment officer; Victor Lagria, LADD officer; Ana Badon, human resource assistant: Luzviminda Nigos, project manager, Darwin Perez, ICT officer, Manuel Sereno Jr., project management officer/electrical engineer; April Dianne Certeza, corporate planning clerk and Joey Ayeo-eo, driver.
In an affidavit, some employees who recanted their signatures stated that Odsey, JHMC’s public relations officer started the signature campaign for the said petition.
They said Odsey made them sign the document on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Thursday, they tried retrieving the signed document from Odsey after a consensus was formed to simply request for a dialogue with JHMC management.
Odsey, however, allegedly refused to give it back and instead left the officer early.
The employees said they were surprised to see their names in the local papers among those who filed for a case with the Office of the Ombudsman against Agbayani.
Agbayani’s counsel, Dean Reynaldo Agranzamendez added the employees retracted on their own volition and nobody compelled them to do so.
In an affidavit, the employees who recanted their signatures stated that Odsey started the signature campaign to the petition complaint against Agbayani. (Please see Odsey’s press statement in page 4.)
The petition/complaint was filed with the Office of the Ombudsman and was sent to the Office of the President on Jan. 20.
Earlier, media reports said the employees wrote a letter to President Aquino complaining about excessive expenditures of JHMC president Agbayani.
“I have nothing to hide, everything is above board. All records are transparent and regularly audited,” Agbayani said.
She added the complaint came at a time when they were aggressively collecting the unpaid rentals of CJHDevCo amounting to P 3.024 billion.
For his part, JHMC board of director and former law dean, Atty. Cesar Oracion said the filing of the complaint against Agbayani was timed with developments on the John Hay issue to discredit the present leadership in the government-owned JHMC.
Oracion added the complaint contained frivolous and flimsy allegations obviously written with malicious intent at discrediting JHMC’s president and CEO.
He added there were reports a high ranking officer was taking advantage of an ongoing dispute between the Bases Conversion Development Authority and the CJH DevCo stemming from the latter’s mounting lease arrears which breached the P3-billion mark as of end-2011.
Oracion said the filling of the complaint against Agbayani was timed with development on the John Hay lease issue to discredit the present leadership in the government-owned JHMC.
Oracion said there were also reports a certain individual was allegedly eyeing the position of the JHMC president, a post that Agbayani now holds.
“If this is true, then the filing of the complaint is nothing but a smear campaign,” Oracion stated. He added the complaint contained frivolous and flimsy allegations, which are “obviously written with malicious intent aimed at discrediting JHMC’s president and chief executive officer.”
Oracion called for an investigation to shed light on the issue and bring out the truth to all these allegations.
“We have an administration that is committed to transparency and accountability,” Oracion stated. “The fact that all the expenses were recorded and accessed by the complainants is an indication that JHMC’s records are open, and the present set of officers have nothing to hide.”
The JHMC is the subsidiary of the BCDA in the John Hay Special Economic Zone that oversees management of facilities such as cottages.
The lawyer said “what they allege as ‘personal expenses’ such as toothpaste, brushes, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioners are common expenses if you have official guests staying at JHMC cottages.”
He added on the issue of gasoline expenses, Agbayani travels to Manila to report regularly to the BCDA head office located in Taguig since JHMC is a subsidiary of BCDA. Also, just like the other Directors, she is entitled to gasoline allowance whether she uses her company or private car.
Furthermore, Oracion said as head of the organization, the JHMC president has the prerogative to hire consultants whom she trusts, in order to help her institutionalize reforms that would ensure a more efficient and reliable workforce.
Agbayani said the JHMC and BCDA were now focused on getting what is due the government, especially the people of Baguio.
She also revealed that a former government official was responsible in orchestrating the complaint. When asked to identify who the official was, Agbayani said, “We will reveal that in due time.”
However, a statement distributed to the media stated that Odsey was “closely identified” with the government official who has been eyeing the JHMC presidency.
“It is public knowledge that Odsey had, in the past, also started a petition addressed to the JHMC board to install Leandro Yangot as president of JHMC,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, former city councilor Yangot in a phone interview said, “on the merits of the case, we leave it to the President and the Ombudsman to decide.”
“Darum iti empleado, ket sungbatan da. Nagipulong da kenyak ngem imbagak kenya da nga aramiden da husto. (They should answer the complaint. The employees complained to me but I told them to do what is right),” Yangot added.
Reacting to the allegation that a political figure was behind the smear campaign, Yangot said, “Anybody is suspect, pati ni Gov. Wacnang kadwa mi dita. Awan iti connection ko ken ni Odsey (Even Gov. Wacnang is part of our group, we don’t have any connection to Odsey.) ”
Of these three employees, who signed the letter addressed to Mr. Aquino two were supposed to be subjected to administrative charges but have reportedly filed their complaint to preempt disciplinary action against them. -- AD
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