July 2011 - And Lead Us Not To {Full} Condonation, But Deliver Us From Penalties. Amen.

If a tree in the forest fell to the ground, and no one was around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Of course it does. You know it; I know it; everyone who has ears know it, too.

Just because there are no longer loud, angry, dissatisfied voices reverberating in the GGS Admin Office does not mean they no longer exist. It simply means just that, that there are no longer loud, angry, dissatisfied voices reverberating in the GGS Admin Office.

No one with enough interest is just around to hear them, that's all...


Our topic for this issue is the controversial monthly association dues, which was officially collected beginning February 2005, when the GGSCAI was officially incorporated. Why you were asked to pay before that is a thought to ponder in many peso-ways...
Ask me for the copy the copy of the current GIS (2011) our lawyers submitted to the SEC, and I will happily make it available to you.

There is that persistent matter of the association dues that will most likely remain unresolved until someone officially acknowledges that there were wrongdoings, miscalculations to the point of misusing the funds by the earlier GGS Administrators.  This is not to accuse such misdeeds were done deliberately. That is for the courts to say. But in my experience, as objective as I can, often, when people are not personally threatened, people simply do not care. Not enough anyway.  Which could be one of the clearer explanations for the current sad state of our buildings.

It takes a special kind of heart pumped with generous blood of compassion for any kind of service to actually mean something.  Customer service is not a job for everybody. Clearly. What I wonder about is, why continue to hold office, or keep one's employment, if one is not committed to  serve.

We're paying First Oceanic Property Management Inc enough money to pay for a capriciously outfitted house in North Forbes Park, so I encourage you to demand service when you feel like raising hell when you have been ignored. Just don't violate any laws, and you'll always stay in the moral right =)

The incumbent GGS Board, myself included, cannot be so arrogant as to ignore the reason, if not reasons, for why there exists enough number of people who could possibly stone all the staff to death if the aggrieved were given one stone each. And I am not exaggerating.  P 2,500,000.00 worth of housing investment is not a laughing matter these days. Hell, it's never been. Our unit's current value should be somewhere around P3.4M, but that bold number above is the current going selling rate. to think that in Avida, a  54 sq. unit is worth P

4.2M in cash.

The incumbent Board cannot be so arrogant as to demand all of a sudden cooperation simply because we are, as the GGSCAI Board of Trustees has always been, the highest authority of the community; that is next only to the General Assembly, which until this year was non-existent.

The problems, my fellow Board members, were not mere hallucinations, or worse, false claims to create an atmosphere of disenfranchisement. {That's a scary thought, really, to have feelings of disenfranchisement in your own home... That's just wrong by many ways.}

To demand payment with the threat of interest/ penalty far larger than the principal is like telling everyone whose been hurt and violated by the sheer lack of concern from the previous Board Members and Property Managers that they were in fact unreasonably reacting all this time.

That's just wrong in more ways than I can even begin to count.

Ten years is a long time to be unheard. And while I am thankful to become one of the agents for change, I can not in good conscience become the purveyor of peace and harmony in its purest form, and make everyone pay their dues, even if they believe in their hearts that they did not owe as much as what was being asked of them. For it is possible that the dues asked of them was not commensurate to the service rendered. That or the services are hardly fulfilled.

Is it possible that people who are paying are only paying so as not to stress themselves further? I know I would elect that option if my house was not previously violated by the Admin...

You want new start?

One cannot shake hands with a clenched fist, someone wise once said. I'll say.

A smart lawyer once pointed out to me the point of having the monthly association dues, that and what it pays for. So it pays for security, administration fees, maintenance and housekeeping, amenities and its upkeep, the light and water for the common areas, and some other services which I am quite confident the residents are not oblivious to.

However, what the residents find oblivious, yes, as in to the point of oblivion, is the value of these services in terms of output, or outcome.  Simply put, the value of the spend should be equal to the value of the output or outcome - but it's not. And to think, it is not just an ideal economic scenario, so expectation is hardly even a factor, but it is the point of having monthly dues.

In any usual situation, no service means no payment, henceforth, little service means little payment. Ergo, poor service means poor payment.  Simple economic formula, don't you think?

Security
The lack of fire safety inspection certificate is one of those recurring points of inquiry hurled against every Administrator that came by, the current one included. It is after all a valid point to raise when making an informed decision whether to make a home out of any place, or not. It's never been answered as far as I know.

Sidebar: QCFD
The Fire Department has been here, and has already completed their inspection. Yes, there are violations. As to the contents of the violations, please await the details to be discussed in amore formal setting.  I cannot possibly entertain any Q &A and still be able to serve the greater good... We are working towards being safe. Have you noticed the Maintenance Personnel working on the fire exit doors?

Elevators

The constantly out-of-service elevators since 2004 were real and ongoing. I could no longer remember for certainty the last time we had a license to operate the elevators... I've previously asked this, even as a Board member already, and I received a foolish answer, as though I could not verify with the previous maintenance group the truth behind the non-issuance.  Otis is a large well-known company; absolute verification is only one appointment away. I cannot comprehend why someone is so dense as to forget to remember who I am and where I come from, and that I hardly ever ask a question whose answers I don't already know. 

It insults me. But I think I've grown so much since March. I no longer want to throttle anyone.  In fact, I just want to make sure that the election for the Board of Governors take place this year, so each set-of-three can take over their buildings' welfare. 

{Where the security guards are concerned, I believe they do what they can despite their limited hands, and for that I applaud them. It's not easy to be a security guard for a high-density neighborhood such as ours. Let's spare them from the controversy, for they've done all they can for us during the fires...}

Amenities
Yes, what about the amenities?

The swimming pool was not always this clean and clear. It's only now that it is, because Teodor the new pool guy is there half the time, tending to it. But before that it's the haziest pool one has ever seen, I kid you not! And I've seen many pools! I've been to freaking Splash Island, and that's the most public of pools!

Oh, don't get me started on the bathrooms! Puh-lease...

It will only take anyone ten minutes from now to go and see why it is not at par with the usual clubhouse facilities. That's already the ladies' room. One male neighbor who spoke on-record during the resident's meeting admitted that he was, and is, embarrassed to bring his friends to swim, not only only because of the generally ghastly situation of their bathroom (I've already been - eek!) but also because their showers has no doors!

Why the hell none?

I could post photos of the swimming pool and the entire clubhouse's state in the last few years, from the time it was at its best up to its current state, but what good would it do other than completely embarrass the ones who let it become the way it is now. Besides, publishing would also result to embarrassing the entire lot of residents who paid good, hard-earned money for the amenity they thought all along was the piece du resistance of the entire property.

Because it's really not the gym, you see, the piece du resistance, that is.

We have no gym. Right now, we have a weight room. You might as well accept it. There is nothing in there but remnants of old weights equipment used by a few men who do not mind lying down on somebody else's sweat. Well, I'm sure they wipe the benches first. I've seen them do it. I don't think the ladies find the gym useful at all. So how now, Brown Cow?

And what of the tennis-court-cum-basketball court.  Oh, if you do not mind soaking your Nike's go ahead...

So really what is left of the monthly dues if these other facilities maintenance are deducted?

The use of the gate, the driveway - Aah, that is always referred to? Sure, why not, but does the maintenance of the road by itself cost money?
Nope. In theory, sure, because technically the roads are free for all to use; it's the maintenance staff who sweep the roads, and keep them blockade-free and trash-free is what the dues are paying for.


Technically, we pay for the use of the roads through the RPT of the Common Areas, that's where we should all be paying, with no escape or excuse. {This is why I am averse to including hte RPT with the Association Dues; so that we can collect the RPT from everyone, without care for whatever issues exist, personal or not.}


While, we're on the technical subject, it is actually more expensive to use the elevators. Check the budget, and the expense to maintain them. And so, can residents pay only half of the amount to keep the elevators? Because that's just how often the elevators work. Check the repair logs. Oh, while you're out riding elevators, have you wondered about the parking elevator?  You really have to pay attention as you press because before you know it, you might be on the 10th floor already.  Oh wait-a-minute, there is no 10/F! Sorry, because the elevator has a 10/F button. I wonder where that goes...

The list goes on, but I think you get the point.

I might claim to have grown since March this year, but I am not anywhere near forgiving. I'm no longer personally angry. Besides, why will I want to punish myself with other people's mistakes? Because that is what anger is all about... punishing oneself with the mistakes of others... literally.

So, let's try do this positively, anger within and all...

I am in such a unique position to make a difference, will I squander the chance? I promise you, no! It's not in me to turn a blind eye, that is if the turning means leaving an injustice unpaid. I am sure my two other colleagues feel the same way as I do. They are working just as hard.  Wait for their unveiling =)

To my fellow neighbors, let's find what's wrong in our own buildings, and fix them from there... You cannot fix people, anyway, particularly if they think they are not broken.

To my fellow Board members, I think we should reassess the status of our relationships with each other, that is residents to Board members and vice-versa, and then figure out if we have the right to demand payment in a manner that clearly undermines the pains and sufferings endured by many in the past.

You see, while it is true that the association dues is the lifeline of the community, what truth does it exact to those who are in charge of such lifeline if and when such lifeline is not spent as carefully as one would his or her own money?

Of course we need to collect! We need money for all the repairs. There is not enough money right now for everything we need to attend to. Let's not complicate things further by asking them to entrust us with more money without promising where such collection will go.

{Gutter repair, water-proofing, leaks of gate valves, termite and pest control, lobby guards, window replacements, etc.}

The mandate of the ByLaws can no longer work as it should with absolute certainty, because it allowed room for neglect by way of having men and women in the past who could not care less where the GGSCAI funds, the little that it had, were spent on. Like any other law, we should rewrite or repeal some of them.

It's time we acknowledge there was a mistake.

Sure, we cannot address them one by one, we really shouldn't anyway, but we can have a blanket solution as a peace offering...

What is two weeks to give room for the residents to settle their accounts without the threat of penalty? After all, they are not demanding for penalty for any criminal or civil violations done to them? Two weeks to give them the little opening they need to believe the new Board of Trustees is bent on changing and helping. What is two weeks against ten years of neglect?

There is no easy ending to the issue of the monthly dues controversy, but we can bend a little... for a while. You want peace and harmony? Bleed a little. It's a matter of reversing the effects of their moral disarmament... It is.

River
GGSCAI Vice-President
Cluster 5 Board of Trustee