MALACAÑANG on Tuesday named a former lawyer for a top cigarette manufacturer as the new administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority amid an ongoing scramble for the much-coveted post in the agency.
In a letter dated Dec. 21, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea appointed Wilma Eisma, a former manager for Corporate Affairs of Philip Morris and Fortune Tobacco Corp., to take the top post at the SBMA and replace its former chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia.
Before Eisma’s appointment, Malacañang tapped Randy Escolango as SBMA officer in charge following the claims from its chairman Martin Diño that he assumed the functions of both SBMA chairman and administrator.
“Please be advised that the designation of Atty. Randy B. Escolango as Officer-in-Charge, Office of the Administrator, SBMA, has not been revoked by the Office of the President and thus remains in full force and effect,” Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in his letter on Nov. 28.
He said Diño was not the SBMA’s administrator but only chairman of the board of directors.
Diño was appointed SBMA chairman on Sept. 23 and assumed office on Oct. 3.
The SBMA has jurisdiction over the 67,000- hectare Subic Bay Freeport Zone and all the coastal boundaries of Subic Bay.
It has registered 1,115 companies with US$6.0 billion worth of investment that has generated more than 87,000 jobs.