All’s not well at R.I. District 3810

Lawyer Ed Tumangan has established a good reputation as a Rotarian since he joined the Rotary Club of Manila (RCM) in 1975.

RCM is the oldest of Rotary clubs in Asia and the biggest in the Philippines. It is one of 90 clubs belonging to District 3810. RCM, which was organized in 1919, has as members 450 captains of various industries in the city. District 3810 is one of Rotary International Club’s 540 districts in 171 countries.

Ed has served as Manila Rotary Club president and International Club District 3810 governor for 2005-2006. Since he joined RCM he has earned a number of awards, among them Rotarian of the Year given by the RCM in 2002, Most Outstanding Club president of District 3810, and Distinguished Club president from Rotary International, also in 2002.

With all those awards of recognition, Ed does not deserve the kind of treatment that some Rotarians have been dealing him with. This development bothers other Rotarians who live by their organization’s four-way test of whether things they do and say are the truth, fair to all, build goodwill and better friendship, and beneficial to all concerned.

Documents with me trace the sad developments at District 3810 to the results of the selection of District (3810) Governor Nominee for RY 2009-2010.  Some members of the Manila Rotary Club have charged him  of “gross irresponsibility (and) clearly questionable and highly suspicious acts” that have caused embarrassment to club members.

My understanding of the election of the nominee is that the 90 member clubs of District 3810 selected 12 members of the District Nominating Committee (DNC) who in turn elected the district governor nominee. The 12 come from the Rotary clubs of Manila (which had six votes), Pasay City (2 votes), Cavite (3 votes), and Mindoro (one vote). The  ballots were placed in a strictly sealed box and kept in the custody of the acting district governor for one year.

In the case on hand, Governor Lyn Abadilla of Manila Bulletin was the box custodian. When the box was opened on February 15, it was found out that there were three nominees. Tranquil Salvador of the Rotary Club of Malate, Manila, was the winner, followed by the candidate from the MRC, Alex Yap, who only got one vote. As is the club practice, Salvador as the district governor nominee, will serve his term only in RY 2009-2010.

The election of the Malate Rotarian and the losing of MRC’s Yap did not please some members of MR. A letter sent by email by MRC member Manny Bueno to Vice President Benny Laguesma requested the MRC board to take up his group’s petition demanding an explanation from Immediate Past District Gov. (IPDG) Ed Tumangan pertaining to his “rather suspicious and abnormal actuations” in the recently-held election of district governor nominee.

The letter, dated Feb. 21, 2007 said Tumangan’s governorship had been due to the unqualified support of the MRC, so he was “duty bound, by practice, tradition and a solemn obligation to act on the dictates and decisions of the MRC through its Board.” In this case, the letter said, the MRC Board had endorsed the candidacy of Past President (PP) Alex Yap. Yap’s candidacy had been made known to IPDG Tumangan.

In an open letter to  RCM members, Tumangan denied sponsoring the candidacy of Tranquil Salvador and that he had failed to deliver the six votes of the DNC members  from the Manila area, to RCM’s candidate, Alex Yap.

As chair of the District Nominating Committee, Ed in fact had voluntarily relinquished the position — “even  before the DNC was convened” — in favor of District Governor Abadilla — “for ‘delicadeza,’ in view of an apparent conflict of interest, since the Rotary Club of Manila (had) a candidate for governor nominee.”

Ed said that Rotary International by-laws prohibit any activity “whose purpose or effect is to influence others by promoting or soliciting support for a candidate or another Rotarian’s candidacy. Such activity is repugnant to the spirit of the by-laws and the principles of Rotary and will be grounds for disqualification of a candidate.”

“It is therefore preposterous, nay, unthinkable to presume that I deliver the six votes of the DNC for the Manila area, for our club’s candidate,” said Ed’s letter. The six votes would have let Yap win.

Ed has appeared before the MRC’s ad hoc committee, majority of whose members found no reason to terminate him. At the behest of the MRC president, the board has been called to a special meeting on May 31 to take up once more the recommendation of the ad hoc committee. However, the meeting was cancelled due to lack of quorum.

I feel sorry that Ed would be subjected to this kind of treatment. Is this jealousy at work? It’s unfortunate that the lawyer’s reputation would be sullied over the non-election of an MRC member. I don’t think Ed would put to naught his standing as an attorney, his having served as president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Quezon City chapter, and the Capitol Bar Association, his having been deputy secretary general of the Batasang Pambansa, and secretary of the Philippine Senate. Surely, he would not be proud to say he is a UP College of Law graduate – and be charged with electioneering.

A respected lawyer, M.A.T. Caparas, wrote Ed: “I do not know what has happened, but I am concerned with what is happening because this is not the first time than an unpleasantness such as this has occurred in the club. Will it always happen every time a Manila Rotarian fails to win a bid for office?”

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