Things the PACF Board doesn’t want people to know
After an extensive research has been made, Philippine Sentinel is now ready to make an exposé of things that the PACF (Philippine Australian Community Foundation), has kept from the public eye. PACF is the trustee of the Filipino Multi-Purpose Centre (MPC) originally situated along Duke Street in Rooty Hill, just across the $5 million Muslim complex. The MPC was renamed Philippine Australian Community Centre (PACC) after the Rooty Hill property was sold and a much larger lot measuring 5.5 acres was purchased in Schofields.
Composition of the original trustees:
Mansueto Villon, Diosdado Morales, Roy Abbott, Felipe Rañoso, Lucy Jumawan, Fred Clark, Ian Howitt, Julia Cuasing, Dominador Pangilinan and Rene Montes. It appears that many of the original trustees have resigned or ceased to act as trustees with the exception of Mansueto Villon.
Luz Tiqui was eventually appointed Chief Executive Officer or CEO. She continues to hang on to her position up to this time. FILCOS (Filipino Catholic Organisation of Sydney) groups had disassociated themselves from MPC since 2001. In 2003, new trustees were appointed: Ric de Vera, Cosme Purrugganan, Minerva Santos and Gerard Oblea.
All new appointees have resigned except Ms. Santos. Currently, only Villon and Santos are in the Board with Luz Tiqui still serving as CEO. This writer is not aware of any new appointments. The validity of these appointments impacts on the validity of actions taken by the board.
Loans obtained by PACF:
It was reported to Philippine Sentinel that In February and March 2008, PACF obtained loans totalling $1,325,000.00 through Mansueto Villon as Chairman and Luz Tiqui as Chief Executive Officer. $725,000 was borrowed from Stacks Managed Investment Ltd at 11% interest; $300,000 from Tess Lopez; $200,000; from Mansueto Villon; and $100,000 from Moises del Mundo at 8% interest.
In March 2008, PACF purchased the Schofields property for $1,150,000 even before the MPC Rooty sale was consummated. The Rooty Hill property was sold in February 2009 for $700,000 less agent’s commission. Why were they in such a hurry to buy the Schofields property?
History of the Schofields property:
The Schofields property was acquired for $320,000.00 in 2000 by Xiao Fen Cai and Wen Bin Huang. In June 2007, Xia and Wen sold the property for $1,260,000.00 to Xiu Ting Zhang making a profit of $940,000.00 after 7 years. Xiu Ting Zhang then sold this property to PACF for $1,150,000 incurring a loss of $110,000.00 in less than 10 months. The date of exchange of sale contracts with PACF is unknown but the sale from Xia/Wen to Xiu was completed in June 2007.
It appears that PACF did not have the funds in its hands when Villon and Tiqui made the decision to buy the site at Schofields.
Interest expense: where do they get the money?
Based on the foregoing, this writer has calculated not less than $119,000 interest on PACF loans of $1,325,000 from Feb 2008 to March 2009 and $200,000 interest on its remaining loans from March 2009 to March 2012. We can now conclude that PACF incurred a total of not less than $319,000 interest for 4 years from 2008 to 2012.
In a forum conducted by PCC-NSW on 4 March 2012, it was reported that the current debt of PACF stands at about $770,000. This means an annual interest of about $73,600.00 or a monthly interest expense of $6,133.00.
PACF has no known income. How does it service the loans? If the monthly repayments are borrowed, then interest payable on these loans are compounded and add up to the outstanding debt. Maybe, Mr. Reming Biala, the generous accountant who bankrolled the Grand Charity Concert can help us figure this out.
Letter from the Blacktown Council
Referring to the PACF property at 80 Grange Avenue in Schofields, Philippine Sentinel is in possession of two letters from the Blacktown Council. One is dated 15 February 2008, signed by Ron Moore, General Manager. The more recent one is dated 27 January 2012 signed by Greg Hawkes, Senior Floodplain Officer. Both letters maintain that the Schofields property lies in a high risk, flood prone area. The latter is more specific stating that “there is risk to life and property during flood events.”
The same letter further states that “a large portion of the property is below 14.9 metres below the minimum ground level requirement.”
The letter concludes that it is extremely doubtful whether the proposed use of the property would be approved.
Will the MPC Project ever materialise?
With the flood situation with no guarantee for a development application being approved in the next 20 years or so, those who contributed and are still contributing towards the construction of a community centre may not live to see their dream come to fruition.
Quo Vadis, MPC?
Where are you going, Mr. Manny Villon and Mrs. Luz Tiqui? You were both invited to attend the PCC-sponsored Ugnayan on March 4 but neither one of you came. A Filipino Chinese friend asked this writer: “Hoi bin doh wah? He was referring to the MPC.