ANGELES CITY—Clark Development Corp. (CDC) President and CEO Arthur Tugade and five other CDC officials were charged with grave misconduct and grave coercion before the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged harassment of a South Korean businessman and the forced removal of his corporation from the Clark Freeport in January.
Charged with Tugade were: Mariza Mandocdoc, officer in charge of the Business Development Business Enhancement Group; Perlita Mateo Sagmit, corportae secretary and chief legal counsel; Evangeline Tejada of the marketing department; Ricardo Banayat of Security Services; Thelma Ocampo, manager of marketing and promotion; and Juvy Manwong of the legal department, according to documents obtained by the BusinessMirror on Monday. The BusinessMirror tried, but failed, to get the statements of the CDC on Tuesday morning.
The complaint was filed by South Korean businessman Kim Eung-il, also known as Steve Kim, president of the Hollywood Development Corp. (HDC).
Kim was the event organizer of the recently concluded 2015 Lubao, Pampanga International hot-air balloon festival at Pradera Verde in Barangay Prado Siongco. He was instrumental in the holding of the first hot-air balloon festival in Lubao last year after the CDC and its partner postponed a similar event in Clark that same year.
“What is worst is that, at around 3 p.m. on January 12, 2015, these employees and officers of CDC went to my office, forced my visitor and corporate officers to vacate the office but because my representative warned them of legal action, they stopped from ejecting the occupants of the office at the time but nonetheless, prevented the complainant, his lawyers and visitors from entering his office despite the 72-hour Temporary Restraining Order affidavit of Lee Woo Sik and Romeo Tolentino,” Kim said in his affidavit.
“To force the occupants to vacate my office, the employees of these offices of CDC employed a food blockade and at around 9 p.m. on the same date on January 12, 2015, the occupant was forced to give up,” he said.
Kim also said the CDC had not recognized the TRO issued on January 12.
A portion of the TRO issued by Regional Trial Court of Angeles City said: “Whereof premises considered and in order to protect the rights of the petitioner, this Court issuing the 72-hour Temporary Restraining Order to maintain the status quo ante. The respondents and all persons acting for and in behalf of the respondents are ordered to desist from entering the leased premises and taking over the operation and any further action that will be detrimental to the rights of the petitioners.
Meanwhile, Clark International Airport Corp. President and CEO Emigdio Tanjuatco III has thrown his full support for Tugade after reports that he had resigned from his post.
“I find this controversy totally unwarranted, and almost comical,” Tanjuatco said in a statement.
Tanjuatco said, “Attorney Tugade deserves all the support and cooperation necessary in his advocacy to instill a culture of professional management and accountability at CDC and responsible corporate citizenship among its locators. If there is anything beyond doubt about him [Tugade], it is his utter seriousness to follow President Aquino’s leadership toward good governance.”
He said Tugade has done a remarkable job at CDC, saying that “he has made the entire Clark Freeport Zone a haven for investment opportunities that would benefit not only Pampanga but the rest of the country.”