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‘Termination of MVA’s Benavente aligned with resignation call’
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Posted on Dec 19 2005
The incoming administration of Gov.-elect Benigno Fitial views the termination of Vicky Benavente from her post as managing director of the Marianas Visitors Authority as one consistent with its call to allow it to select its key personnel.
In a statement, Fitial’s spokesman, Charles Reyes Jr., said the incoming administration trusts that the termination was valid and legal, although he admitted that he was unfamiliar with contract provisions.
In a meeting last Thursday, the MVA’s board members unanimously voted to terminate the employment contract of Benavente effective Jan. 13, 2006.
Reportedly, the MVA will compensate Benavente, the wife of outgoing Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, based on the full term of her contract, which expires in June 2006.
“We are not familiar with the outgoing managing director’s contract provisions. We trust that the contract was legal and valid, and that no contract violation occurred. The termination should have been done legally, without adding any special golden parachutes,” Reyes said.
Reyes reiterated Fitial’s call on the outgoing administration to allow his administration to select its key personnel and formulate its own policies, citing the “electorate’s clamor for change.”
He said the Babauta administration should refrain from taking actions that would bind or obligate the incoming Fitial administration.
“The MVA board’s move to discontinue the services of the current managing director appears to comply with this request, and it is consistent with the usual, traditional and customary practice of allowing new administrations the flexibility to appoint their own key people to implement various public policies and programs,” Reyes said.
