The long-running row between the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and its private developer at the Camp John Hay special economic zone in Baguio City has spawned a surfeit of legal controversies like a multi-headed hydra, the latest being the criminal rap filed against the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of this government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) for usurpation of powers, among other transgressions.
Besides last week’s criminal complaint before the Ofice of the Ombudsman, lawyer Howard Calleja has also filed an administrative case against BCDA president-CEO Arnel Paciano Casanova for illegally occupying this top post in the BCDA, in gross violation, he said, of Republic Act 7227 or the law creating this GOCC that oversees the commercial use of erstwhile US military facilities in the country.
Calleja said Casanova should be held criminally liable too for violating Section 13 of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and should be administratively charged for dishonesty, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, in violation of Section 52 (A) of Uniform Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service.
Observers say that Casanova’s acts as BCDA president-CEO could all be ruled as illegal and null and void by a competent court once Calleja proves his charges against him.
Calleja based his complaints primarily on RA 7227 or the BCDA Charter, which clearly states that the state-controlled firm must be composed of nine directors, including the chairman “who shall also be the president of the Conversion Authority.”
But Casanova isn’t the chairman of the board, but former Bataan Rep. and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman Felicito Payumo, who was also appointed the same time as Casanova was in April last year.
Calleja noted that there is no provision in the BCDA law that allows for the splitting of positions between the president and chairman of the Conversion Authority. He said appointing a separate chairman and a separate president for a supposed single position “is contrary to law and should be declared as void as the law states that the appointed chairman shall also serve as the president for a term of six years.”
For Calleja, Payumo’s designation as chairman should be the one recognized under the law because the appointed chairman is supposed to concurrently act as both president and CEO, the position Casanova currently holds. In short, Calleja is accusing Casanova of being a fraud and a usurper of authority.
Pending the investigation of his complaint, Calleja said Casanova should be placed under preventive suspension based on the provisions of the Ombudsman Law.
If Calleja is right, then this means all of Casanova’s issuances, directives, and agreements or contracts signed are invalid and illegal.
Calleja has also written President Aquino and Solicitor General Francis Jardaleza about this anomaly in the appointment of Casanova to the BCDA.
In fairness to President Aquino, he only inherited this questionable corporate setup in the BCDA, as it was the previous administration on the watch of then-President Arroyo who had allowed the splitting of the positions of chairman and president-CEO in the BCDA.
Payumo’s belated appointment as chairman and concurrent president-CEO of the BCDA will not only conform with the provisions of the BCDA law but would also offer President Aquino with a novel solution to the long-festering legal dispute between this GOCC and the Camp John Hay Development Corp. (CJHDevco), the private developer of the John Hay Special Economic Zone.
It is also one way for the President to strengthen investor confidence in his pet project Public Private Partnership (PPP), given that prospective investors are getting spooked by the way Casanova has been mistreating a major investor like CJHDevco.
With Casanova as president-CEO, observers say that the dispute has taken a turn for the worse and has now become a threat to the economic development of the former military camp in Baguio City.
If Casanova succeeds in edging out CJHDevco from the John Hay project, what would happen to the P5 billion that the CJHDevco plunked in for the development of the former military camp, the P1.5 billion it remitted to the government, the 2,000 jobs it created and the dozens of businesses that were put up inside the special economic zone, not to mention the 15,000 in tourist arrivals every week.
CJHDevco has already lost P11.6 billion in potential revenues between 2007 and 2011 from the John Hay project because of the BCDA’s negligence. Instead, CJHDevco only got P489 million.
Any other investor would just have folded shop and packed his bags given these massive losses. Fortunately, the officials of CJHDevco are made of sterner stuff. “We had been through four presidents, six changes in the BCDA administration and four changes in the local government, thus, we will not just leave and abandon our investments,” according to Alfredo Yñiguez, CJHDevco executive vice president and chief operating officer.
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