Pay up, Marikina biz group chief tells ex-members

Take up a collection among yourselves and pay what you owe me.

This was what the head of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Marikina chapter (PCCI-M) told board members who resigned in April after the group found itself facing a lawsuit over its supposed unpaid obligations to the city government.

In a statement released to media days after the mass resignation of the 14 board members came out, PCCI-M president Eduardo Francisco “strongly urged” his former colleagues to come up with P324,009.93.

The amount, he said, represented his “capital expenditures” plus interest when he “single-handedly” represented the group in front of the city government, the community and the PCCI national chapter.

“Since I have gladly accepted your respective resignations as officers, directors and members of this current business organization—effective April 03, 2012, as highlighted in your Resolution 13-004—… I strongly urge you to ‘pass-the-hat-around,’” he said.

A copy of the statement was also sent to the Office of the Mayor.

At the same time, Francisco castigated the former members for their “cowardly non-confrontational move” since, according to him, it was the city government that “failed to honor its contract with the PCCI-M.”

“Had you only sought prior legal advice before making that cowardly nonconfrontational move and made an effort to get a second opinion on your en masse resignations, any lawyer worth his salt would tell you that being submissive and apologetic (as if you were guilty of a crime) to the city government won’t do the trick …,” he said.

He added that those who resigned, led by then vice presidents Ramadan Guiamano and Patrick Tanco, “automatically lost [their] personality and authority to future PCCI-M undertakings and business transactions.”

Last week, the Marikina City government filed a civil suit against PCCI-M over the latter’s supposed failure to pay P14 million of the P22 million “contract price” both parties had agreed upon after the group was allowed to operate a Christmas bazaar last year.

The city government later issued a clarification that only Francisco and executive director Leonardo Clarino would be charged since they were the ones who were actively involved in the project.

Francisco had said that the PCCI-M group did not owe the city government anything since it incurred losses amounting to P16.02 million from operating from the bazaar because of the city official’s failure to meet its “deliverables” such as the installation of stalls for vendors.

In April, the PCCI-M board members resigned, saying they had lost their trust and confidence in Francisco over his poor handling of the bazaar project and his failure to inform or update them on how the event went.