Trouble in the village

Wading into some thorny issues without so much public significance or impact may be not so necessary. But when truth, fairness and justice is at stake, it is sometimes imperative to do so even if it involves only a small village because the lessons learned will also have a bearing in our society at large. Hence I am forced to write once more about that posh, high end village in Quezon City, the Ayala Heights Village where I am a resident and a director. I have to resort to this medium as it has become the only available means for me and for other concerned residents to communicate to our fellow residents after the ruling Board denied our repeated requests to circulate some information that will enable all the villagers to get the big, if not the real picture of the various issues besetting us. We have been left with no other choice especially after we have been prevented to circulate such info ourselves by the village security guards allegedly upon orders of the ruling majority. I earnestly hope therefore that our villagers will be able to read this article.

The unfortunate and obviously very damaging incident causing serious rift and division in the village started when five of the seven Board members indiscreetly chose to take sides in a quarrel between neighbors even if the controversy is already pending in the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), the proper government body legally empowered to authoritatively and competently resolve the case. More ill-advised are their moves apparently favoring the party who sued the previous Board Members of the Village Homeowners Association (AHVA) but who lost the case and did not even appeal the ruling. Perplexing indeed is their mindless obsession to go after his neighbor-opponent by using every means, fair and foul but mostly foul, to make life in the village miserable for the latter. Apparently they have a powerful clout in City Hall as the City Building Official even issued an order to demolish the "fence" constructed by this opponent. The demolition order was issued mainly because the "height" was not in accordance with the plan submitted. I wonder if City Hall knows that the construction of said fence which is actually a "rip-rapping" structure to prevent further soil erosion in the property and at the ridge behind the property was already declared by the HLURB as valid, necessary and proper; and that demolishing it may precisely cause an avalanche potentially destructive to the lives and properties of the residents below.

More intriguing is the majority Board action against the Village Manager and an Office staff member who have served the village long and well but who have been suspected of favoring the "other side". Acting as investigator, prosecutor and judge, they initially slapped the two employees with an indefinite preventive suspension based on some flimsy charge with apparently fabricated and perjured evidence, then later on dismissed the Village Manager and constructively dismissed the staff member by threatening her with more disciplinary action upon lifting her suspension. Now these five Board Members and AHVA itself, meaning all its members, stand liable for damages due to illegal suspension and illegal dismissal. All because of a quarrel between neighbors.

Believing that a new Board with a fresh perspective and more unbiased outlook may restore peace and unity in the village I suggested that the election of 2007 Board Members be already held this December even if all of us were elected only last March 2006 for a term of one year. Anyway, I pointed out that elections have already been held every December since 2001 upon the amendment of the By-laws on December 16, 2006. To avoid being accused of politicking I even made of record that I am not running anymore for reelection. But the majority nevertheless denied my request simply because the said amendment has not yet been registered with the HLURB. When I said that this is only a technical defect easily curable, and that I have already taken steps to register it, they still refused. Such adamancy thus prompted 215 residents to call for a special general membership election meeting on December 16, 2006 pursuant to another provision of the By-laws and in anticipation that the amendment would be registered by then. But even when the amendment was already registered with the HLURB to meet their objection, they still would not like to hold the elections by telling residents that the same is without Board authority even if knowing full well that no such authority is necessary and even if two of them were part of the Board that approved the transfer of the election date from March to December and two of them were previously elected in December, pursuant to the said amendment. It seems that the majority will stop at nothing to stop the Board election this December even if the rule of law is no longer on their side. And this is sad because, it is the village and the residents that suffer most due to confusion, dissension and division.

Moral of the story: Village Officers should not take sides between neighbors’ conflicts. Let the rule of law prevail.