Wong groomed as SBMA chief

Former Navy chief Rear Adm. Guillermo Wong may be appointed chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to appease protesters who have paralyzed business activities at the freeport zone in Zambales.

Protesters identified with Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon are preventing the entry of pedestrians and vehicles, including investors and tourists, to demand the resignation of SBMA Chairman Felicito Payumo and Manuel Aurelio, president of the SBMA Service Corp.

A highly reliable source at Malacañang told The STAR Wong’s name had been submitted to President Arroyo for consideration as head of the SBMA.

However, Renato Corona, Mrs. Arroyo’s chief of staff, would neither confirm nor deny the information.

Corona refused to say if Wong’s appointment as SBMA chairman could be part of the Arroyo administration’s solution to the problems besetting the freeport.

"What we’re protecting here is the interest of the investors," he said. "Here we are trying to invite investors. Hopefully, we can find a solution that will give permanent peace and stability in the operations in Subic."

Wong was forced to resign as Navy flag-officer-in-command after Marine officers reportedly threatened to mutiny when Wong publicly admonished them for alleged irregularities in the purchase of war materiel for the Corps.

Last Tuesday, Mrs. Arroyo said in a press conference at Malacañang that she told Wong, who will retire from the service in December, that he might be named ambassador to a country within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Wong’s appointment to the SBMA came up last Thursday after hundreds of supporters of Gordon, a former SBMA chairman, barricaded the freeport’s gates and disrupted business activities.

Payumo was said to have offered to resign last Jan. 20 after Mrs. Arroyo took over the government from President Joseph Estrada, although he has a fixed term of office under the law.

However, reports now say that Payumo has decided to hold on to his post even if he is fired by Mrs. Arroyo in the same way that Gordon defied Estrada’s order that he step down in 1998.

Payumo has accused the former SBMA chairman and his wife, Olongapo City Mayor Katherine Gordon, of instigating the protests and the barricade to force him out of office.

At Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, reports said the controversial order of Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes to relieve Wong as Navy flag-officer-in-command has sharply divided the Marine Corps and the Navy’s seven other units.

Wong has the support of the Philippine Fleet, Headquarters Service Force, Patrol Force, Assault Craft Force, Naval Air Group, Fleet Support Force, and the Special Warfare Group.

Military officials said Wong’s exposé of a multimillion-peso procurement anomaly in the Marine Corps has generated outrage among men in uniform.

Wong said the alleged irregularities may have involved former Marine commandants, including Sen. Rodolfo Biazon and the controversial Lt. Gen. Edgardo Espinosa.

Last Feb. 20, 13 Marine officers met with Reyes and reportedly threatened the Armed Forces chief with a mutiny if Wong was not removed as Navy chief.

In his report to Reyes, Armed Forces Inspector General Brig. Gen. Lamberto Sillona said Wong’s accusations have "clearly undermined the unity and organizational effectiveness of the (Marines)."

However, Navy officers told The STAR yesterday Wong had already "planted the seeds of reform" and that "there is nothing to regret" about his lone crusade.

"We have to rid misfits in our midst," read a letter by Navy officers to Wong. "The true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make decisions and the compassion to listen to others."

Navy officers said the issue was not about being castigated in front of the rank-and-file but rather on the need to institute reforms in the Marine Corps. – Marichu Villanueva, Paolo Romero