Candelaria Secretary: PP Councilor's CEO Role "Manager in All But Name"

Octavio Fernández, the Secretary of the Candelaria City Council, has criticized the documents submitted by Popular Party (PP) councilor Jacobo López to the Candelaria Council's Register of Interests. This happened after López was appointed CEO of Cultivos y Tecnología Agraria de Tenerife, SA (Cultesa), the island's public company.

Fernández believes that López has, in fact, been given the duties of a manager, and therefore "doesn't follow the proper legal process."

Cultesa's Board of Directors confirmed, after two requests from the municipal Secretariat, that on September 5, with two-thirds of its members voting in favor, the company's board gave López all 25 responsibilities previously held by the manager, María Teresa Cruz Bacallado, from November 21, 2002, until her retirement. "Therefore, we seemingly have a CEO who, in essence, is a manager," the report states.

This information is detailed in the Candelaria municipal secretary's report, available on the local government's Transparency portal. The report states that company law "in no case allows a CEO to take on all the duties of a manager simply by being named CEO and without a public selection process that ensures fairness, merit, ability, and transparency." Octavio Fernández clarifies in the document that "in law, legal figures are not defined by the name they are assigned, but rather by the content and functions they perform."

He cited legal precedents to conclude that "the selection of personnel for local public companies, including the role of managing director, must follow principles of transparency and open competition." He also pointed out that "ending a top management contract will not create any right to join the local government staff" that the company depends on. Furthermore, looking at the rules of the Cabildo company where Jacobo López is CEO, the secretary highlights that "only its manager is authorized to handle the company's day-to-day operations."

In this particular case, the municipal secretary notes that López, the spokesperson for the Popular Party in the Candelaria City Council, also serves as Cultesa's Head of Human Resources, a duty previously performed by the former manager (one of her 25 assigned tasks). This leads him to state that such a function "confirms" that the Popular Party councilor "performs the duties of a manager without a prior public selection process."

The Controversy

Octavio Fernández issued his report on October 17, after asking the councilor for an updated declaration for the Register of Interests. He did so following a controversy sparked by the PSOE in early October. The PSOE accused the Cabildo Government (CC-PP) of "creating a custom-made management role" in the public company Cultesa "to install" the Popular Party councilor, Jacobo López, as the new CEO "with manager functions." The Popular Party called these accusations "false and misleading."

Echoing the secretary's later report, the socialists stated that "the appointment was made without a public call, without institutional communication, and without being reflected on the transparency portal, where the new head did not even appear as a board member." The PP, however, highlighted a positive review from the Administrative Service and claimed it was "a completely normal business contract under the law" which "does not require a selective process."

Based on the documents presented by the councilor for the Register of Interests, the City Council secretary reports that "the CEO performs the functions of the entity's manager, meaning he is only a CEO in name, but in reality, he acts as the manager of the island company."

The Popular Party defended Jacobo López's "professional and technical profile" and his suitability for the position, stating that he "meets all the conditions to access that position at Cultesa."

According to Valentín González, the island councilor for agriculture, Jacobo López is an Agricultural Technical Engineer from the University of La Laguna and has "extensive professional experience in this field in various public administrations." González explained several weeks ago that López's performance is governed by "a completely normal business contract that follows the law."