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Special panel created for Muna’s evaluation
A special committee specifically tasked to evaluate the performance of Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. CEO Esther L. Muna was created yesterday by the CHCC board.
Board Resolution 2014-03 was adopted by a 5-0 vote during yesterday’s special meeting. Vice chair Pete Dela Cruz was named as the panel’s head; he will select at least three other members on the committee.
Muña was appointed to the position on April 30 last year.
Dela Cruz told Saipan Tribune that Muna’s evaluation will cover the period from June 30 when she was first appointed in an interim capacity, up to now as a permanent CEO.
The newly-adopted resolution also established the CEO’s annual evaluation to fall in October every year. The evaluation will be based on the same format adopted during the time of former CEO Juan N. Babauta.
According to Dela Cruz, “the objective is to see whether she actually does the job and the annual evaluation is a requirement of the law.”
When asked on the possible action that will be taken if the evaluation yields unsatisfactory results, Dela Cruz said: “A decision has to be made by the board.”
In more than two hours of meeting yesterday, four of the five board members present expressed dissatisfaction with how Muña interacts with the board. Repeated requests for information have always been the concern for most board members.
In an open session yesterday, Roy Rios claimed that the corporation management selects the information or records it provides the board.
“We as a board need to sit down and discuss this issue. If the CEO is reluctant to work with us because she has this mindset of Public Law 16-51 that it’s under her discretion to seek the board advice, how are we going to go about this if the CEO decides to ignore us again?” asked Rios.
According to board chair Joaquin Torres and vice chair Pedro Dela Cruz, the board will “exercise its authority pursuant to the law.”
They pointed out that under Public Law 16-51, “the governor has to accept the board’s decision on the removal of the CEO.”
