DAVAO CITY – Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Secretary Leo Tereso Magno assured on Wednesday that no employees would lose their jobs following his appointment as the head of the office.
Magno made the assurance during his first-ever appearance at the Wednesday Media Forum here.

MAGNO (FB)
He said he was appointed to head MinDA to continue its responsibility, check the needs of every region, and boost Mindanao.
“I did not go to MinDA to remove their employees, nor was I placed there to find faults from the others. The only first personnel changes at MinDA will affect those with coterminous positions,” Magno said.
He added that if an employee is working well, showing good performance, and willing to work for the development of the entire Mindanao, then he has no right or desire to remove someone who is an asset to the agency.
Magno said that most of former MinDA chairwoman Maria Belen Acosta’s appointees, reportedly her family and relatives, were automatically removed from the office because their positions were coterminous (limited to a period).
“According to Acosta, her appointees, who were her relatives, worked in coterminous positions. I don’t see anything wrong with that. When the head’s appointment ends, coterminous employees are automatically removed,” the MinDa chair said.
Acosta reportedly hired several immediate family members and relatives when she took office in January 2022. Among those she hired were her husband and son, daughter-in-law, and sister of a son-in-law.
Acosta’s daughter-in-law and sister of a son-in-law reportedly resigned from their posts earlier.
She also allegedly hired about 65 contract service personnel since she assumed office. Acosta filed a case to contest her removal from MinDA.
Magno commended the professionalism demonstrated by the MinDA personnel. He said that he admired everyone in the agency and that because of what they have shown in the past few days, he is confident that MinDa is a professionally managed organization.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. appointed Magno, the former secretary of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Mindanao-Eastern (OPAMINE), as new MinDA chair on May 13. He took his oath of office before Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on May 21.