Former DepEd secretary quits Greenergy board

MANILA, Philippines — Former Education secretary Leonor Briones has resigned from the board of Greenergy Holdings Inc. in support of businessman Antonio Tiu who has filed a civil case against the listed company.

Briones in a letter dated Aug. 17, 2024, informed Greenergy’s board that she is tendering her irrevocable resignation from the company’s board of directors due to several reasons.

Briones, who served as the secretary of the Department of Education from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2022, is an independent director of Greenergy.

She said that as a member of the board, she was not fully informed about crucial decisions involving the decision of Tiu to leave the company.

Tiu stepped down as director of Greenergy in May last year due to personal reasons.

“I have long known Mr. Antonio Tiu as a doctoral student of Public Administration. I share his strong advocacy for agriculture and environment,” Briones said.

“As a member of the board, I am entitled to know the full details of the unfair treatment of the very person who established and nurtured Greenergy Holdings,” she said.

According to Briones, she joined Greenergy’s board “fully believing in its mission of developing agriculture, protecting the environment and participating in its mission to encourage Filipinos to support the agriculture sector and diversify products for international trade and domestic consumption.”

“The current imbroglio in Greenergy Holdings indicated a departure from its original advocacy,” she said.

Aside from Briones, Greenergy said it has also received the resignation of Kenneth Tan as director of the company due to personal reasons.

Tan served as the chief financial officer of the company and previously served as its treasurer.

A civil case was reportedly filed by Tiu, through his company Earthright Holdings, in a Bulacan court against Greenergy and MIS Maritime Holdings to cancel a deal involving the assignment of rights over 750 million shares in Greenergy.

In a social media post, Tiu said that the “complaint is the opening salvo of what I expect to be a long fight to clear my name in the wake of recent adverse publicity.”