TWO TOP officials of the UST Faculty Union are in hot water for allegedly lending millions in union funds to a property developer in 2006 without the approval of the membership.
Nine union officers are demanding accountability from union president Gil Gamilla and vice president Gil Garcia for P9.5 million in union funds disbursed without the knowledge of other union officers.
The Arts and Letters Faculty Association has lodged a petition calling for the resignation or impeachment of Gamilla, while 15 faculty association presidents of different colleges and faculties have called for an independent examination of the union’s “financial matters, restriction on release of funds, and limitation of access of the union’s documents.”
In a position paper titled “A Call to Fidelity,” the nine union officers said a general assembly must be held “at the soonest possible time” to shed light on a controversy involving the two highest officers of the union.
The nine officers were vice president for grievance Jose Ngo, vice president for legal affairs Mark Maramba, vice president external Irma Potenciano, secretary general Ma. Lourdes Medina, sergeant at arms Celso Nierra, and directors Dante Jose Mercado, Elizabeth Arenas, Aida Vargas, Juanita Subaldo, and Emerito Gonzales.
They are accusing Gamilla and Garcia of impropriety over the disbursement of union funds to Mario Villamor of Saturn Resources Inc. for the development of a housing project for the UST faculty in 2006.
Ngo said the project was disclosed to the union board only on Sept. 19, 2009 when Gamilla admitted to the existence of a memorandum of agreement between the union and Saturn Resources.
In a letter to the Varsitarian, Gamilla said the union had sent letters demanding Villamor’s payment of his obligation, adding that a law firm has advised the union to take legal action.
He said the union would create an independent fact-finding committee, composed of “respectable members of the academe,” which will submit a report to the general assembly.
The agreement with Saturn Resources, signed on May 14, 2009, required the union to give “sums of money” to Wise Capital Investment and Trust Co. (WiseCitco), said to be a financial adviser to various commercial entities. Under the agreement, WiseCitco will lend money to Saturn Resources to build a condominium building for the faculty.
The agreement was signed three years after checks for the project were released from December 2006 to September 2007. Ngo provided copies of the agreement and the checks to the Varsitarian.
Ngo, who conducted an an inquiry from September to December 2009, claimed Villamor had recommended WiseCitco to the union as financial adviser. WiseCitco then advised Gamilla to extend a short-term loan to Saturn Resources amounting to P5 million payable within 180 days at 15 percent interest per annum.
“We got documents from the housing file available in the union office, we interviewed witnesses, and we also looked into the records of WiseCitco and Saturn,” Ngo said.
The loans however reached P9.5 million.
“Actually, [WiseCitco] recommended P5 million in loans to Saturn but then, the checks went to Villamor, and for unknown reasons, it ballooned to P9.5 million,” Ngo said. “We asked them (Garcia and Gamilla) to explain, but they cannot give a categorical answer … But eventually, they said they were enticed by the 15 percent interest on that loan that is why they continued giving money.”
Policy No. 18 of the Finance Manual of the Union Policies and Procedure mandates that “in case the disbursement for materials to be purchased reaches the amount of up to P300,000 or more, the approving body to authorize such disbursement is the general assembly.”
In a report outlining his findings, Ngo questioned why Gamilla and Garcia, who was concurrently assistant treasurer, served as signatories to the checks. Union rules state that the president and treasurer shall be signatories to checks, and only “when the treasurer is not physically present in the University can the assistant treasurer sign the check.”
Ngo said union treasurer Hidelita Gabo was not on leave from December 2006 to August 2007. The College of Science confirmed that Gabo had teaching loads during the period. Gabo has since retired.
Ngo said the housing deal between the union and Saturn Resources was made to appear as an “investment.”
“[But] it is a loan, because the money came out of the union and went to that loan of Villamor. It never went to WiseCitco as an ‘investment company,’” he claimed.
Ngo said he found out that by the time the project was undertaken in 2006, WiseCitco already had debts of P126 million, and that it had stopped operations.
In an e-mail sent to the Varsitarian, Villamor said Saturn Resources suffered “financial losses” in completing the “pre-operating” items of the project. He said “pre-operating” items such as technical plans, architectural and financial studies, and applications for permits were already completed when the owner of a lot on Geliños Street in Sampaloc backed out from selling the property.
“The landowner changed the terms of agreement to the prejudice of the faculty union, and the project did not push through,” Villamor said. The project was then moved to a lot on Dos Castillas Street, but it did not push through as well because of misunderstandings among the owners of the land, Villamor said.
Villamor refused to answer other questions, saying he would address them in a proper forum.
Medina, the union secretary general, said her group wanted a board meeting to set the procedure to be used by the general assembly in discussing the matter. A general assembly has been set for January 26.
Ngo said the controversy could result in the postponement of the election of new union officers during the general assembly.
Mercado, one of the union directors, clarified that the stand of the group was not “election-related.”
“Out of delicadeza, none of us will run [should the election push through],” Mercado said.
