CLARK FREEPORT — The Association of CDC Concered Employees (ACCES) sought the assistance of Senators Grace Poe and Risa Hontiveros on various issues hounding the rank-and-file employees of the Clark Development Corporation (CDC).
“We write to seek assistance in raising a multitude of problems that have been plaguing the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) and the Clark Freeport Zone (CFZ) to the awareness of concerned authorities and the general public,” ACCES president Edsel Manalili, in a letter to the senators dated Oct. 11, 2023, said.
According to Manalili, ACCES is hoping that there are follow-ups to a remark which Sen. Poe made towards the end of the first hearing regarding “the officials who were involved in anomalies in the energy sector who are now at the helm of Clark.”
In his letter, Manalili said he is hoping that the rank-and-file personnel at CDC “are insulated from any further anomalies in CFZ.”
According to Manalili, the ACCES has filed with the Office of the Ombudsman a case of Grave Misconduct and Gross Abuse of Authority against AGNES VICENTA SALAYO TORRES DEVANADERA (President), JOSE MIGUEL R. DELA ROSA (Vice President), ATTY. BONIFACIO O. TAREÑO (AVP) and members of the board of CDC.
The case, Manalili said, stemmed from the shifting of CDC to GSIS without undertaking a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between parties which is stated on GSIS MC 036s2022.
It can be remembered that on January 2023, CDC implemented CPCS, wherein the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) benefits for more than 20 years were stopped, resulting to lesser take-home pay averaging ₱5,000.
The mandatory shifting to GSIS with higher premium is another takedown on the rank-and-file employees, Manalili said. The sudden and mandatory shift to GSIS with partial implementation of CPCS is another concern of the employees.
“It is now with the Ombudsman to decide on the matter,” Manalili said.
The ACCES leadership expressed concern that the case filed “may go the same way as the other cases which Atty. Devanadera escaped.”
Manalili cited in his letter than in 2017, Devanadera was cleared of a P6-billion graft case “not because she was proven innocent but because the Ombudsman was delayed in its investigation.”
In 2016, Manalili said “Atty. Devanadera and her former Chief of Staff at the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) Atty. Rolando Faller were also charged for grave misconduct for irregular appropriation of attorneys fees to themselves.”
“The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals to rule that ‘Faller is administratively liable for simple misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.’ Today, Atty. Faller serves as a consultant of Atty. Devanadera in CDC,” Manalili said.
“From the Energy Regulatory Commission, Atty Devanadera brought along Atty. Paul Cervantes to the Board of CDC. She also got former commissioner Gloria Victoria C. Yap-Taruc as Vice President for Legal Services. Taruc was suspended by the Ombudsman as ERC Commissioner in 2018. She received an appointment from the CDC Board through a nomination from Devanadera,” the ACCES president said.
The group also lamented Atty. Devanadera’s various irregular deeds, which include celebrating her birthday through the now infamous “Lugaw-for-a-Cause” with tickets priced at ₱5,000 forced on locators without the reglementary DSWD permit.
“In addressing the human trafficking ring matter in Sun Valley, she fired lower-ranking personnel as scapegoats after her VP Security Services resigned and left posthaste,” the letter said.
Manalili said Devanadera approved the several step increase in pay of newly appointed VPs (Dela Rosa, Menesses and Taruc) even when insisting that the CPCS shall be implemented strictly to justity the reduced take home pay of the rank-and-file.
He also cited that recently, Devanadera’s OIC-Manager for Communications Division was ousted by the Pampanga Press Club for policies that curtail press freedom within CFZ.
“Atty. Agnes Devanadera will never be good for the working class. The direction that management took in implementing the shift to GSIS was lacking of any solution that cushions the impact on the lower salaried employees of CDC. The previous CDC administration recognized the detrimental effect of the shift and thus was studying ways of slowing down the impact on everyone,” the letter ended.
PNN welcomes CDC’s comments.
