Filipin-Oz

Office of Fair Trading Clarifies Number of Votes Required

September 29th, 2020 · No Comments

by Benjie de Ubago

A month after the Philippine Community Council’s Special General Meeting (SGM) which was held on 30 August, 2020, Bulseco has not stepped down and still refuses to accept the Vote of No Confidence passed by the affiliates.

Bulseco of course has been flip-flopping on decision based on his whims. Initially, Bulseco insisted that the SGM was “not sanctioned” by the PCC Board. However, in a surprise twist, he reimbursed Jun Relunia, the Convenor of the SGM, for the expenses of the SGM. This would mean that it was now a “sanctioned” event and therefore the outcome of the SGM should be accepted.

The main points of contention are the days of notice, the quorum at the meeting and most controversial is the number of votes required at the SGM.

The SGM notice was given 21 days notice and therefore complies with the rules.

The quorum required is 50% of the members.  Again that complies with the rules.  

The ¾ votes required to pass a resolution is where opinions are divided. 

The Presidents’ group to include Kate Andres and Jun Relunia are of the opinion that ¾ of the members mean 3/4 of those members present and vote at the meeting.  Relunia’s group obtained independent legal advice from Telan Lawyers.

 On the other side, Bulseco sought the advice of Rey Manoto and Jess Diaz who rendered the final verdict. Both would have been bias in their opinion. According to them, ¾ refers to the total number of members.  That would not be possible. That statement would mean that no one will ever pass a resolution because those required to vote is (75%) which is larger than the required quorum of 50%.

While I have read the PCC constitution and the OFT rules, I thought I would phone Fair Trading to clarify the issue once and for all.

According to the Fair Trading Office, the quorum depends on the constitution of the association, i.e. 50%.  However for resolutions passed, the OFT rules apply. “Votes required to pass a resolution is 75% (3/4) of those who attend the meeting and are eligible to vote.  I repeated the question so many times and in different ways until the person on the other end of the line was getting annoyed.

That clarifies the numbers game once and for all! 

Therefore, as per OFT, the SGM and all the resolutions passed are valid.  Bulseco must step down and the Board to appoint his successor until the end of the term.

Filipin-Oz

30 September 2020

Tags: News