Mismanagement v.s. Proper Share Value – DO

The numerous mismanaged committees of Southwoods are costing the general memberships several millions of pesos more each month than what is normally needed to operate our club and this type of mismanagement is exactly the reason why our share value are below Php-200,000.00 now and is still sliding down until we remove the control of the board by Fil-Estate Group. FYI, in the recent concluded 2009 Election, the Chairman was asked why our share values are so low and the Chairman put the blame on geographic location and the temporary on-going construction of the Sucat-Alabang Skyway that is causing prices to come down. Irked by this fallacy; Mr. Butch Campos, whose family are the owners of vast properties all around Southwoods stood up and volunteered to the Chairman, the fair market value of real estate properties around Southwoods that should put our share values at 1.5 Million if Manila Southwoods were managed properly. The Chairman did not refute the facts presented to him.

PROPRIETARY MEMBER V.S. PLAYING RIGHT MEMBER

There are around several hundreds of our members who only have a DEED OF SALES from Fil-Estate group of companies for Manila Southwoods shares that were not notarized. The truth of the matter is these members are not members despite being fully paid but are merely considered as “Members with Playing Rights” that have no voting rights and they can be terminated anytime! Even realtime playing rights members who pay a lot less money for their privilege holds a written document to that effect while these “members-victim” do not.

In the recent concluded 2009 Southwoods election; only MANILA SOUTHWOODS MEMBERS OF RECORD ON THE UNION BANK LIST WERE RECOGNIZED AS THE LIST OF BONAFIDE AND RIGHTFUL OWNERS AND MEMBERS OF MANILA SOUTHWOODS GOLF CLUB. This also means that the stock certificate is the only instrument that can prove our ownership. Even the SEC is protecting your rights by requiring corporation to issue stock certificates to fully paid members; so how come you do not have your share certificate?

Comment re 330 proxies – JBS

The Chairman has 330 proxies and these proxies belong to Fil-Estate Golf Development, Fil-Estate Land, Fil-Estate Management, Fil-Estate Marketing and etc.

The Chairman has been using these 330 proxies to control the board. And because we also have around 300+ proxies invalidated for the simple reason that they are not listed; who then are the real owners of the 330 shares who gave their proxy to the Chairman???

This is what I think the Chairman and his friends are doing. To this date many of our members are holding DEED OF SALES from Fil-Estate Group for Manila Southwoods shares that were not notarized and they were admitted as members. These members think that because the Club allows them to play golf and allows them to sign their food chits that they automatically are owners and members of the share they paid for. No, they are not. The management every year fooled these members, because the Chairman uses their voting share to vote himself to the board. WAT A GUY !

This is the reason why Chairman Bob is always there and worst of all, all our problems can be traced back to him! An example is the RPT problem that caused us to be penalized by the Carmona Municipal Office, because of non payment of real estate tax since 2003 and the contingent fund for this tax was re-aligned to golf course repair, wherein the company that repairs our courses is GOLFORCE which is also owned by our CHAIRMAN. To cover up the gravity of the problem, he borrowed 40 Million from Penta Capital investment at 18% per annum (the present bank ongoing interest is only 8% to 9%) with our assets as collateral and puts all of us indebted by default of his decision. He then increased our monthly dues to pay for this loan and its interest. This guy is SNEAKY! Why was he authorized to borrow that much money in our behalf when this is a public and membership corporation? Are there no limits to the amount and his authority to borrow? How come management did not post this intent to borrow money in the Southwoods bulletin? We might have some members who can offer a better deal. FORE!!!

More money is printed everyday for Southwoods, than for the US Treasury!!

So the Chairman reckons share prices at Southwoods have fallen because traffic is being allowed to go through part of the Southwoods Subdivision!!
 
It has nothing to do with the debts they have racked up, which has forced the Board to take out a Php50m bridging loan at astronomical interest rates.
 
It has nothing to do with the fact that to secure this loan they had to mortgage off the driving range and the workshop maintenance facility..
 
It has nothing to do with the fact that we don’t have a full time General Manager.
 
It has nothing to do with the fact that we don’t have a Golf Director.
 
It has nothing to do with the fact that dozens of sprinkler units on the golf courses are not working properly.
 
It has nothing to do with the fact that both golf courses seem to have more weed growing through the fairways and rough than proper grass.
 
It has nothing to do with the fact the bunkers never have sufficient sand in them.
 
No fellow Members, its the poor motorist’s fault. What a load of boloney!! If that’s not  trying to insult our intelligence, then I don’t know what is!!.
 
Watchdog 

Comment re Election – OS

Amazing that a board who has taken the club down the basement can get re-elected. They simply have no shame.

Letter of Gratitude from Jimmy Gosiaco

Dear Friends,
GREETING!

I am happy to inform you that last Sept 16, 2009, I was re-elected to the Board of Directors of Southwoods. Allow me to convey once more my sincere appreciation for your generous support of my candidacy.

Thank you.

Very truly yours,
Jimmy Gosiaco

2009 Election results as tabulated by NOMELEC

The list of the 2009 Board of Directors elected is as follows: For information purposes, all deserving and not-deserving 2008 Board Directors were re-elected. No New board members were introduced. This clearly shows the failure of the Corporate Secretary to protect and uphold the Articles and bylaws of the Club as well as the election rules.

Robert Sobrepena – 1,694
Fred Campos, Sr. – 1,659
Hector Diangkinay – 1,605
Renato Lirio – 1,561
Jimmy Gosiaco, – 1,560
Paco Gonzales – 1,529
Edward Dy – 1,528
Fred Mendoza – 1,518
Peng de Tagle – 1,518
Enrique Sobrepena – 1,518
Hanson So – 1,489

2009 Election proceedings

The Stockholders meeting started late. However, unlike in previous years, there were a lot more stockholders who attended the stockholders meeting, this year. This is a sign that members are aware and are concerned of the internal problems of our club.

During the stockholders meeting, the Chairman, Bob Sobrepena and some of his associates i.e. Paco Gonzales, an incumbent and re-elected Southwood Board member and Ferdinand Santos, the Chairman of Forest Hills Golf and Country Club, a member of Southwood and a contemporary of our Chairman Bob at Fil-Estate, worked on a scripted proceeding such that every time Chairman Bob wants to move ahead to avoid more questions, Mr. Paco Gonzales would make a motion and Mr. Ferdinand Santos would second and both motion were done within two seconds. Such was the case during the entire meeting. While the procedure may be legally correct, the practice is most unfriendly to the stockholders and members of the club, which the Chairman and the members of the Board are sworn to serve.

The demeanor of the Chairman during the stockholders meeting was ungentlemanly and unbecoming of a Chairman of a membership Country Club. He evaded many questions and issues of great interest to members of the club. Concerns such as illegal recognition of proxy of shares already sold by the developer but which continues to be voted by the representative of the developer; issues of deceitful representation by club management as regards to the settlement of the Assessed RPT on the club; unjust monthly increase in dues and others too many to mention that never got ventilated. . In addition, the Chairman in several occasions raised his voice on members including lady members showing his true uncouth and boorish nature; he cuts in when the member is still phrasing or explaining his/her question thereby manifesting disrespect to the constituency he is supposed to serve. In the end, several members raised their voice too that precipitated a shouting match of sorts that were instigated by the Chairman.

Such was our observation of the proceedings from the validation of proxies to the stockholders election & meeting

Some 2009 NOMELEC Rules and Discrepancies

The NOMELEC ruled that a member is qualified to vote if his name is in the LIST OF STOCKHOLDERS of RECORD and LIST OF MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING. We have around 450 members who are fully paid and in good standing but because their names are not listed in the Stockholders list the NOMELEC invalidated their proxies. On the other hand, these around 450 shares are still under the name of the original stockholders who sold them and despite the fact that these shares are not paying their dues and assessments and therefore cannot be considered as MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING, the NOMELEC allowed these shares to vote! These are some of the reasons why the election should have been declared null and void. The 450 shares could have easily changed the results of the 2009 election and elections in previous years.

2009 Election updates and comments

The NOMELEC report, Stockholders report, Agenda, Minutes of previous meetings were all tailored for the convenience of the Chairman to evade the HOT ISSUES of the Club that are of great interest to the general membership of the club. This was done so he can conveniently cite that the issue being questioned is not on the agenda and must be taken up later and eventually the matter was assigned to a staff. Our club has so many problems these days and the Chairman is aware of that and should have provided more time for Questions and Answers from members, if he is sincere in his commitment to make this a better club

The LIST OF STOCKHOLDERS of RECORD and the LIST OF MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING were requested from NOMELEC and Management in all three days of deliberations and they repeatedly cited UNION BANK as the Transfer Agent and as such only UNON BANK has the list of stockholders. However, UNION BANK representative was either not invited to all these proceedings or finds it convenient to be absent to avoid answering all these questions that may incriminate the bank in any election related wrong doings. On the other hand, Management refused to provide the LIST OF MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING despite numerous letters of request submitted on the third day.

All these points to a well orchestrated MORO MORO done by the Chairman and the controlling directors to railroad the Stockholder’s meeting and election through without consideration of the sentiments and welfare of the members of the club. This clearly shows the failure of the corporate secretary to protect and uphold the Articles and bylaws of the Club.

General Comments – TOM

Just to clarify, what Fil Estate did to some friends of mine was to sell them shares. The buyers were then admitted as full-fledged members. In the meantime, Fil Estate issued absolute deeds of sale, but did not have them notarized. This prevented my friends from making the penalties on delayed transfers start to run. Demands for the release of the certificates have fallen on dead ears– for many years. While all this is going on, Fil Estate continues to assign the proxy over their shares to Sobrepeña who manages to get himself elected to our board repeatedly. I am sure that Sobrepeña is unaware of this. What evil mind could do this to our fellow members? Surely not our good chairman. Surely, he would never allow it. Surely…

Aren’t we all so lucky to have Bob? What a joy it is to be in Southwoods, where the share prices continue to become even more affordable, making it every poor man’s dream come true for just “nickels and dimes” as Tito likes to say when referring to club members. My friends and I are so thankful for all of this. Imagine? Even “penny-pinching” daily wage earners will soon be able to boast of membership in Southwoods. Tito and Bob must be amused. This must be the secret master plan to make golf an affordable game for the masses. After all, Sobrepeña has acquired quite a reputation as a patron of golf, certainly an honest attempt to match or rival the infinitely more capable and infinitely more resourceful golf patron Ricky Razon. But, we are all proud that no less than our chairman has been generous. Ricky Razon, in contrast, has single-handedly managed to sustain the very high share prices of his club, placing membership well-beyond the reach of “penny-pinching daily wage earners,” as Tito likes to say. But we Southwoods members don’t want that, do we? We like having share prices very affordable for all and sundry, that’s why we keep putting Bob back in as chairman. He has single handedly kept share prices affordable for almost all Filipinos. Maybe next year, even more people will be able to afford Southwoods. A true nationalist and patriot. Hep hep, Hurray!

I have made it a point to send this email to Bob’s good friends in the hope that they will invite me to join his inner circle. How I long to follow Bob around and marvel at what a kind hearted robin hood he is, taking from those who can afford and working so hard just to make ends meet. Imagine the trouble he goes to, taking time from his very busy schedule to hold meetings at hotels and other plush restaurants with the Board, just to decide who our next cook is going to be? What a sacrifice. What a good samaritan Bob is. I am surprised that all his obsequious followers and lackeys are able to resist the urge to submit his name to the Vatican for sainthood. Surely, the Pope would be impressed. If I were by your side, BOB, I would make you a saint. Many of our members want Bob to become a saint right now.

So, I hope you will all come and participate at the forthcoming elections to vote your shares. Just come. It is important that we all show Bob just how we feel about him. COME AND VOTE.

Now, my friends, this Fil Estate fraud has been going on for years. Do you still want to just keep playing or are you the sort of person who likes things done the right way? If you have a sense of rectitude and moral uprightness, get in touch with the Reformists. They don’t tolerate cheats, fraudulent schemes and most of all will oppose sainthood. So if you love Bob, stay away from these fellows.

By the way, if you have space, can you please be fair and post this at the blog site? I feel that the comments there are one-sided. This should help put more balance to the views there, instead of those only you have been posting. Please be fair.

Tom

Comments re Monthly Dues Increase – COR

I fully agree with the comments/commentaries made. Additionally, the other golf clubs mentioned in the letter/comparison sent to members are Highlands and Midlands with monthly dues of P3,300 and P3,000, respectively. It should be noted that members of either clubs are entitled to use both facilities with just one membership, thus in effect have 36 holes plus better maintenance, F&B services and facilities!

To all concerned members –

Following is an unofficial tabulation of proxies submitted to the NOMELEC that were taken from bonafide and fully paid members with and without stock certificate.

The proxy validation process on Monday will decide which of these proxies will be invalidated (unauthorized to vote). Also to be decided on Monday is whether inactive voting shares (not issued to members or held in trust with Bank) will be allowed to vote. it seems Management has been voting these shares while not allowing fully paid members whose stock certificates are still withheld by Management to vote.
PROXIES SUBMITTED TO SOUTHWOODS NOMELEC

To all concerned members –

Following list contains the proxies that were invalidated due to duplication; meaning the member gave his proxy twice. Under the circumstances, the proxy that was signed at the latter date is valid and the proxy signed earlier is not valid. If you are the member who did that, you now have a chance to redeem yourself by attending the meeting on WEDNESDAY, Sept. 16, 2009 and voting your share yourself. There is nothing to stop you from voting your own share, even if you mistakenly gave out your proxy to someone. You can still vote for the right candidate. Next year, we hope to see women candidates running for a Board position!

LIST OF PROXY WITH DOUBLE ENTRIES

To all concerned members –

The 2009 Proxy battle is on and this year, reformist group headed by Butch Campos and Jimmy Gosiaco and the founding board group headed by the Chairman, Mr. Bob Sobrepena are not taking it easy due to the huge shift of proxies support away from the Chairman and his group. While the fight is not over yet; we urge reformist members who wants to stamp out corruption in our club to show their support by attending the following meeting:

1. Validation of proxies on Monday, September 14, 2009, 2pm at Manila Southwoods Club.

2. The General Assembly and Election on Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 8am at Manila Southwoods Club.

See you there!

Comments from JUN

There is no need to raise the monthly dues, just stop the nonsense that selected shareholder are exempted from paying them, let everybody who are registered share holders pay and that will be more than fair to the rest of the share holders. Anyone is free to own as many shares as they like but should be treated the same way as the rest of us members. Is it not conflict of interest when the chairman of the board of MSGCC also votes for non payment of dues from his own company who owns a lot of share whereat if they where out on the open market they would be generating monthly dues.

Comments re Monthly Dues increase – BY

The Southwoods Management made a comparison of our monthly dues to the monthly dues of other golf and country clubs and concluded that our monthly dues are very low and needs an increase to be at par with other Clubs. Let us analyze the information Management provided.

1. Manila Southwoods monthly dues is lower than Wack Wack, Manila Golf, Sta Elena and Mt. Malarayat but we cannot compare ourselves to them because of geographic locations. Clubs in Metro-Manila and/or located in cities of Provinces are naturally more expensive as property tax and values are higher. Carmona is not the capitol of Cavite and neither is it a big city of Cavite.

2. Manila Southwoods monthly dues is at par with Orchard, Eagle Ridge and Riviera. These Clubs are all in the same geographical location. If they can survive, why can’t we? On the other hand, Eagle Ridge is a 72-Holes Golf Club and has no Consumables.

3. Manila Southwoods monthly dues is higher than the rest on the list and some of them even have nicer facilities and services than us and one is even located in Metro-Manila.

What is Southwoods Management talking about?

Comments re Increase – TOM

I heard that the members who are complaining about the P500 monthly increase were described or referred to as those having “recently acquired wealth” (biglang yaman, not necessarily noveau riche) who are nitpicking on “nickels and dimes.”