Libel hounds US Navy contractor in Subic

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—A United States Navy contractor, who was accused of dumping waste on Subic waters, is now facing a libel complaint from another Subic company he had blamed for his firm’s troubles.

Stephen Dave Dalisay, director of Global Terminals Development Inc. (GTI), filed the complaint on Dec. 11 at the Olongapo City prosecutor’s office against retired Vice Adm. Mateo Mayuga, president of Glenn Defense Marine Asia Philippines Inc. who, he said, made “defamatory statements and remarks against [GTI]” in a television interview on

Nov. 23.

Dalisay submitted a transcript of the interview, quoting Mayuga as saying that his company had an apparent feud after GTI lost the US Navy husbanding contract to Glenn Defense.

Accusation

In the complaint, he said Mayuga discredited GTI when he “made it appear that GTI is engaged in husbanding contract services, that it was a bad and deficient service provider that resulted in it being stripped of the [US Navy] contract, and that it schemed to destroy the reputation of the company (represented by the respondent), in order to get back the contract.”

Contacted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Friday and Saturday, neither Mayuga nor his company’s public relations officers responded to queries about the lawsuit.

Dalisay also said that Mayuga supposedly accused GTI of tampering with the water samples taken by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) when it investigated the alleged waste dumping in October.

In a statement sent to the Inquirer, GTI said it “never bid for the US Navy contract or the contract that [Glenn Defense] is now performing.”

“GTI is in the business of port operations and development, commercial and industrial leasing,” it said. GTI also said that it was an SBMA worker who alerted the agency about the alleged waste dumping. Robert Gonzaga, Inquirer Central Luzon