Can Their Lawyers Answer Simple Questions?
by Cress Vasquez
The Filipino Centre Toronto (FCT) has demonstrated a dislike for conventions such as the accounting principle of listing payables as a liability in financial records like balance sheets and financial statements.
Instead, what FCT President and CEO Mary Ann San Juan has done was use a special resolution to bypass accounting controls that prevent financial mismanagement, fraud, and deter the use of funds prejudicial to public interest.
For everybody’s enlightenment, nobody is arguing about how and why money has been spent. What is being asked is: Where are the individual monthly supporting invoices, proper timesheets, and travel reports that authenticate FCT expenditures for the years in question between 2006 and 2016?
San Juan and FCT executives and board of directors passed on May 20, 2017, a special resolution that authorized payment of 10 years of back wages and allowances that have never been disclosed in financial reports over the years.
Based on invoices submitted by the late FCT President and CEO Rosalinda Javier and her husband, Felino, they pocketed $389,603 (billing of $348,000 plus $41,000 previously advanced to them).
This $389,603 is on top of salaries and allowances paid to them but were nonetheless recorded in account books under Repair/Maintenance (source: Corazon J. de Villa, FCT Treasurer from 2012 to 2015). Speculation is thick. The total package to the Javiers could have amounted to $500,000 or more.
A lawyer with Cassels Brock and Blackwell said: “The directors who initially authorized this and those directors who allowed these payments to occur over the years without review or scrutiny may be held personally accountable for failure to ensure that moneys of the organization are being properly spent in accordance with the By-laws.”
Expensive lawyers silence dissenters
To put blinders on inquiring eyes and muzzle the discordant voices of concerned members, San Juan has employed expensive lawyers to craft memos framed in legalese and libel threats.
At a Special General Meeting on Jun 6, 2019, San Juan strutted on video ordering FCT legal counsel Ramon Andal as her pit bull to intimidate Filipino media. Also, on video was a security guard who shooed away press folks.
It appears that San Juan does not hesitate to sic lawyers like pit bulls to intimidate dissenters.
Mascarinas, FCT designated barker
It was at this meeting that a certain Leo Mascariñas served as San Juan’s mouthpiece and dummy.
He did a one-hour presentation that had nothing to do with state secrets or sex scandals to warrant a closed-door session.
What transpired at the meeting could explain why San Juan was allergic to Filipino media. She ordered a ban on using voice and video recorders, cameras, and members were limited to one written question. Also, there will be no handouts and no published minutes.
Also, when a speaker asked a hard question, a certain FCT director and members drowned out the question with heckles as if on cue. One of the hecklers was identified as a recipient of a gas allowance from FCT.
Many members left disappointed and in disgust with Mascariñas’ presentation. He mainly harped on FCT’s history and the propriety of financial benefits being granted to certain FCT officers and members. But he was silent on important issues like the unsubstantiated back wages and long-delayed independent audit.
But Mascariñas was not alone as San Juan’s dummy.
Dr. De Villa, why let it go?
After Mascarinas’ presentation, Dr. Antonina de Villa, who moderated the Q&A portion, urged the members to let bygones be bygones and let business continue as usual at FCT.
Dr. De Villa’s attitude of tolerance toward the stink at FCT likely stemmed from her loyalty to Javier and her husband because she believed they were instrumental in promoting the viability of FCT.
Rightly, or wrongly, her support of the Javiers has been carried over to San Juan, who appears to share a common DNA with Javier regarding people skills and financial management style.
San Juan and her sidekick, Chairman Efren de Villa, have famously advertised their “transparency, honesty,” and “openness,” which were contradicted at Oct 2, 2019, Annual General Meeting where they again banned local media.
Dr. De Villa, who sat with Javier and the rest of the Board members who voted for the passage of a special resolution that awarded Javier and her husband with sizable cash, was among those who remained silent on the point of conflict of interest.
It would not be farfetched to conclude that she strong-armed the board to pay her a huge amount as back wages for ten years.
Javier might have felt entitled to a reward for her and her husband’s long and dedicated service to FCT, notwithstanding that FCT is a non-for-profit organization designed for volunteers who serve to benefit the Filipino community.
Members troubled by huge payables
Among former FCT directors and concerned members who had petitioned for an audit to eye questionable expenditures include Dr. Mario Andres, Perla Andres, Rey Tolentino, Maria CJ De Villa, Ed Birondo, Evelyn Birondo, Malou Parcero, Bay Bernabe, Daisy Bernabe
Toots Evidente, Noel Cruz, Bobby Gabat, Bernie Carreon, Teresa Sevilla, Rob Fuerte, Frank Maralag, Rudy Naval, Myra Naval, Cecile Kolmegies, Mercedes Tolentino, Elisa Pardinas, Frank Villanueva, and Luna Vince.
FCT directors who resigned before and after the sale of FCT’s Toronto building on Jan 31, 2017 were FCT Chairman Tolentino, Dr. Andres, former FCT Chairman Dr. Victoria Santiago-Liu, lawyer Raffy Fabregas, Parcero, Vince, Teresa Sevilla, and Bernie Carreon.
Three former University of the Philippines Alumni Association-Toronto (UPAAT) presidents who are FCT members of good standing are Bay Bernabe, Noel Cruz, and Dr. Santiago-Liu.
It’s time for FCT to answer questions
With all the drama involving security guards, libel threats, delayed audits, high-priced lawyers, and plastic honesty and transparency, what is San Juan keeping from the membership and the public?
What incentive was there for her and her disciples, FCT Chairman Efren de Villa and FCT VP/CFO Theresa Lumanlan, to reward the Javier couple more than $500,000 without a single financial record to back up their cash award?
The passage of the resolution on May 20, 2017 legitimizing the huge retroactive wages ignored the fact that it did not have supporting monthly invoices, time sheets, and travel reports, and financial data for the years in question, from 2006 to 2016?
Can FCT lawyers Mark Donald and Ramon Andal answer these questions?
The membership and the Filipino community deserve answers, not threats of legal action.