Dazzling them with his bull

Disgruntled members of the Manila Polo Club revealed that its Good Governance Team, headed by Robert Romulo, will be given broad powers if Amendment No. 6 is passed. This gives the board the power to arbitrarily raise members’ dues without consultation. These amendments to the by-laws were initiated by Romulo himself. Shades of the Marcos dictatorship and self-aggrandizement! The team is proposing to increase members’ monthly dues to P2,200. That’s roughly P12,000 a year. This is still being rammed down members’ throats after they roundly rejected his P6,000 increase proposal last year. Members did not believe the board’s dire pronouncements on "precarious" finances. This is a blatant scare tactic because the club has a P150-M cash hoard stashed away. The club’s finances were finally in the black last year because no expenses were made to improve the club’s facilities. In spite of the fact that the club is a non-profit club, Romulo’s cabal is obsessed with making members pay more. This is Romulo’s idea of good governance. To justify the increase, the board created a problem that didn’t exist before. The Polo Post said that the board wants to "modernize the club’s revenue structure." Vague words. It means that the board will now deviate from proper accounting practices common to all clubs. The club had always treated the large transfer fee income as revenue to help dues cover expenses. This is the main reason for the club’s low dues. But this board doesn’t want to leave well enough alone. It will now "set aside" this transfer fee income and keep it idle. As a result, a P35-M deficit will now exist. What is the cure for this novel case of self-inflicted injury? Increase the dues, naturally! On top of that, the club will lose a third of this now idle income to taxes. Failing to baffle the members with his fake brilliance, Romulo’s tactic is, as always, dazzling them with his bull.

Dodging arrest

An unimpeachabe eye-spy from an agency handling converted baselands in Region 3 reported that one of its high officials has an outstanding warrant of arrest for estafa. He owes a contractor over a million pesos. He is well connected because his mother used to have a high position in the judiciary. In spite of his connections, he was not able to stop the issuance of the warrant. The problem is that the warrant has not been served because he controls the security and the police in the area. He is reportedly covering up, too, his boss’ attempt to shake down foreign contractors. He can only dodge arrest for so long. Eventually, the long arm of the law or the start of a new Administration will get him. And the bigger can of worms he keeps buried.

Railroaded bidding

The personnel of a security agency manning the MRT EDSA line recently formed a lightning strike. This doesn’t come as a surprise. Our ear-spy reported that the bidding for security services conducted by MRTC in November 2003 was rigged from the beginning to favor the present agency upon the alleged behest by a son of a top government official through a former DOTC assistant secretary. This retired functionary is now running for a congressional seat in Pampanga. The agency is known in the blue guard circles as notorious for non-remittance of SSS and Philhealth contributions. In addition, it is a respondent of more that 22 labor cases. The award of the contract to an unqualified bidder precipitated the early retirement of the previous MRTC General manager.

Spybiz spin alert

Palace eye-spies revealed that the head of a government charity agency, who was tasked to head the ruling party’s Makati campaign office, was unceremoniously booted recently from the Makati operations for failing to account for missing contributions. The Jukebox Queen-Columnist, who is a close friend of the official, reportedly is on the payroll. Naturally, anytime now we can expect the Jukebox Queen to defend the cashiered official over the issue. The Jukebox Queen is no better than those countless hordes trying to unjustifiably gain lucre from the campaign. This is a matter where being forewarned prevents further foreplay.

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