22 August 2022, from Gems

As Chair I must admit that in our earnestness to make some things happen last year, there were some essential tasks we failed to do such as the necessary review of our internal processes from the get go. I had personally assumed that our organizational documents were in place. Seeing and realizing in late July how the basic lack of our Chapter Bylaws is bound to weigh down or weaken some of our actions with legal infirmities, we took it upon ourselves to draft the AFPOVAI Phase 678 Chapter Bylaws, patterned, of course, after the AFPOVAI Bylaws, but configured to our own structure. These Bylaws are fundamentally required under Section 1 of Article VII, titled Chapters and Functions, of the duly registered Amended Bylaws of AFPOVAI, which mandate that Phase Chapters must adopt their own Bylaws which should not be inconsistent with the AFPOVAI Bylaws.

Our draft Chapter Bylaws and COMENO IRR necessarily include a provision on the conduct of our own elections, which prescribe electronic voting, hybrid sessions and remote communication processes – consistent with DHSUD’s Department Circular 2020-003, authorizing and providing guidelines for the use of alternative modes of conducting meetings and voting for homeowner’s associations under extraordinary circumstances; in consideration of the health and welfare of all members who are now in their senior years at a time of COVID-19 resurgence; and given our singular peculiarity as a juridical entity, a homeowner’s association in active, regular engagement without the physical elements and attributes of a physical community for now.

To ensure that things were done right, we passed three Board resolutions during our last three Saturday meetings: BR 01-22, adopting the processes and procedures used by AFPOVAI in the conduct of Board elections last year, centered on electronic voting; BR 02-22, creating the Phase 678 Chapter COMENO for this year’s elections; and BR 03-22, approving the AFPOVAI Phase 678 Chapter Bylaws for ratification by the Phase 678 Chapter Members and subsequent submission to the AFPOVAI Board. (We shall be sharing with you the draft Chapter Bylaws shortly.)

As it were, however, we still need to wait for the release of the final announcement by the AFPOVAI Board of the IRR on the conduct of this year’s elections, an IRR which, intriguingly enough, does not lean toward e-voting. And we’ve been informed we have to wait for at least one more week.

With time running short in our preparations for a kind of elections that could either keep us united in our current efforts or throw us in disarray, I therefore feel compelled as your Chairman to call for a General Assembly within the next two weeks, preferably on the 9th of September 2022, to discuss matters of pressing concern. I am sure AFPOVAI President BGen Art Abadilla would understand this.

We cannot afford not to fix things in our own house. We cannot, given our biggest numbers, be led, directed and managed by default. We cannot afford at the same time to release the momentum of our efforts and give up the grounds we’ve gained thus far. And we cannot afford not to be decisive in this regard. Somewhere I learned that sometimes having no sense of urgency can be tantamount to dereliction of duty. We’ve come a long way, and we’re so close to getting those deeds of sale released. We probably just need more firepower, additional guidance and additional brilliance from those who have greater powers to help make things happen.

We know there are many members who are willing to step forward and help advance our cause. Now is the time to rise and be recognized. For the sake of ensuring the proper transition in the leadership and management of our Phase 678 Chapter. (Otherwise, we might be constrained to stay on for a while in holdover capacity.)

Sirs, I hope you would make yourselves available. But please settle your dues first, at least for the year 2022-23, to be duly registered. We’ll keep you posted.

God bless our Chapter.