18 September 2022, from Gems:

A LANDMARK YEAR:

[Delivered during the AFPOVAI Phase 678 Chapter General Assembly and BOD Elections on September 17, 2022 at the Integrated Montessori Center, AFPOVAI, Taguig City]

Esteemed Fellow AFPOVAI Phase 678 Chapter Lot Owners, isang napakagandang umaga po sa ating lahat!

Noong Huwebes lamang, hindi namin segurado kung maaayos ang takbo ng ating halalan at General Assembly hindi lamang sa kadahilanang tayo ay magkakahiwalay na tirahan at wala sa general area ng AFPOVAI, kungdi kapos tayo sa panahon at resources para mapaghandahan ang ganito kalaking pagtitipon.

Unprecedented Hybrid Event

When the AFPOVAI Board decided on the shortest of notices that we had to hold our General Assembly and Elections today, 17th of September, we were forced to comply. And in the process we became creative, innovative and practical.

The use of the QR code, the Google form, the online participation form, our viber community clarifications and our resort to electronic voting a day earlier than today surprisingly effectively allowed us to cast our votes faster than we previously imagined.

In fact, as of midnight yesterday, our members in good standing or MIGS stood at 158. One hundred twelve (112) had registered to participate. And fifty-seven (57) had already voted. The way we conducted our hybrid elections is unprecedented. As early as yesterday, we were getting commended by the AFPOVAI Main. And we hope to build on this kind of innovative approach to every challenge we are going to face as a developing homeowner’s association.

Today, assembled for our 2022 event, we are 168 -strong, counting both MIGS and non-MIGS, with 55 in physical attendance here at the Integrated Montessori Center, and 86 participating virtually via zoom. (For a zoom gathering, 86 is significantly a big number.)

As your Chairman, I wish to express the current Board’s appreciation and gratitude for your manifest involvement and support. Maraming salamat sa inyong pagdalo ngayong araw na ito.

For memory recall, our current Board is composed of: Lt Gen Galileo Gerard Kintanar; Lt Gen Antonio Ramon A Lim; Commo Antonio G Suratos; Col Cezar Mancao II; Lt Col and Atty Manuel Se Satuito; Capt Mat Mateo; Col. Melva S. Bonifacio; PCol Mayaman Mangondaya; Ms Tess Mendoza; Ms Angelene Castro; and yours truly.

Except for Ms Tess Mendoza, they are all in the running today. And they are joined by MGen Vic Guerzon who is also vying for the Phase 678 BOD position.

Apparently, we have a lot to report today, many of which you already know. In the interest of time, allow me to narrate the Chair’s Report covering only the major gains we’ve made in our main line of efforts.

Singular Focus

If you will recall, we started our term last October 2021 focused only on the pursuit of the administrative process of completing all applications in behalf of every AFPOVAI Phase 678 member. We knew right from the start that without seeing any movement, those orders of award and the deeds of sale will never happen. And the TCTs will never come – except for the few who already had theirs in possession.

So concentrating our efforts on DENR, your Board called on Secretary Roy Cimatu the following month in November, followed by another call and meeting on Dec 7, 2021, this time with his key Department officials.

DENR-AFPOVAI JTF

Within weeks, the DENR-AFPOVAI Joint Task Force was formed to expedite the processing of documentary requirements in order to complete the transfer of lots from DENR to all legitimate and qualified lot owners. We quickly expanded our viber community from less than 30 to 160 to more than 270 (now we have 347) by adding and engaging members in online discussions. We dug up old phone numbers and reached out to as many as we could by all means possible if only to get everyone into the processing line of DENR.

And by the time we transitioned into the New Year of 2022, our JTF objectives and weekly targets were set. Following the operationalization of the JTF, the interviews of our members jumped from 10-15 to 40-45 per week. (President Mateo will be reporting on the numbers and relevant details later.)

Throughout the first quarter of 2022, our tempo was sustained with AFPOVAI President Art Abadilla joining our high-level meetings and supporting our activities from the mother board.

Key Efforts

More than that, DENR and AFPOVAI managed to work on several action items, including the:

1. Lifting of the DENR memo which suspended the processing of all AFPOVAI Ph 678 applications since 2005;
2. Activation of a DENR-AFPOVAI Mobile Team to expedite the administrative process;
3. Conduct of virtual, instead of face-to-face, interviews of lot owners to sustain momentum and operational efficiency;
4. Inclusion of all AFPOVAI Ph 678 members with lots outside the PN golf course area;
5. Non-discrimination and inclusion of all AFPOVAI Ph 678 members regardless of payment status or affiliation, including those associated with the Cobarrubias group, in the interview and expeditious processing of documents;
6. Pegging the price of each lot at the original cost of P15 per square meter, with imposed 4% per annum penalty for delinquent applicants as reckoned from the order of award;
7. Prevention and reporting of suspicious transactions by third parties and prohibition of agents or intermediaries;
8. Exclusive processing of all AFPOVAI Ph 678 applications only through the DENR-AFPOVAI JTF;
9. Issuance of AFPOVAI Certificates of Membership in Good Standing to all members, regardless of their arrears, solely for the purpose of including everyone in the DENR’s processing line;
10. Activation of a Technical Working Group to facilitate the critical administrative process flow from IGPSA to issuance of deeds of sale;
11. Awarding of the first deeds of sale through the JTF process by March 2022 (originally);
12. Notarization of all deeds of sale and automatic transmittal to the Registry of Deeds; and
13. Establishment of a working timeline of six (6) months from January to June 2022 to fast-track the processing of all Phase 678 lot applications.

JTF Slowdown

Unfortunately, in the middle of February, Secretary Cimatu resigned from his position, unexpectedly affecting the direction and progressive pace of the JTF. Promptly calling on his successor in position, Acting Secretary Jim Sampulna, and pleading our case, your Board succeeded to convince the Acting Secretary to lift the erstwhile suspension of DENR’s administrative process and finally authorize the resumption of the processing our Phase 678 lot applications.

Lifting of Suspension

As most remember, the historic date of the lifting of suspension through a DENR department order came on March 16, 2022. We erupted with joy since the one government agency solely and primarily responsible for acting on our lot applications finally corrected itself and reversed its longstanding position. Like I posted in our viber community, our own Gordian Knot was finally decisively cut loose.

However, it came with a price: P600 per square meter, instead of the original price of P15 per square meter, for those lots without payments made by the lot owners until that time – affecting all our allocatees.

It was a take-it-or-leave-it offer from DENR. Still, we considered it a major breakthrough. Many retired lot owners, we learned, wept with joy at the news.

One-Stop Processing at AFPOVAI

With the JTF still meeting in April, your Board pressed on with the controlled and systematic processing of all lot applications through a 20-step titling process developed exclusively by DENR for Phase 678 Chapter. In full coordination with the AFPOVAI management, a one-stop processing arrangement was initiated at the main office to expedite the steps and spare lot owners the difficult effort, risk and inconvenience of following up their papers at the DENR Central Office in Quezon City.

Two weeks later, last April 1, an April Fool’s Day, the processing of AFPOVAI Phase 678 lot applications finally and officially resumed after seventeen (17) unjustifiably long years. DENR selected the first ten (10) fully paid lot owners, already with issued orders of awards, based on evaluated pertinent documents, and requested them to appear on short notice.

To their credit, the DENR sent their own mobile teams to the AFPOVAI Office to finish their tasks through a rigorous 20-step process, and capped interview and validation efforts in the same month with the taking of photos of the first two batches of lot owners at the foreground of the Philippine Navy Golf course.

External Factors

At the height, however, of the election period and in view of the impending retirement of Acting Secretary Sampulna at the end of June, the administrative process somehow stalled. Following the fifth and last JTF meeting, a two-month silence (covering April and May) on the part of the DENR side ensued even as we got assurance from JTF counterparts that the applications of the first two batches were being routed through the proper signing offices.

Then the leadership of DENR changed hands, rather belatedly, with the assumption of Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga only on the 21st of July, further keeping your Board mainly in coordination and follow-up mode since we needed to schedule a call on the new Secretary.

Admittedly, the pre, through, and post elections phase disrupted our expectations of the normal administrative efficiency at DENR, forcing us to wait until the new appointments had settled in position.

Draft Phase 678 Chapter Bylaws

Then before we could finalize our plans to make a high-level call, we realized we just had over 6 weeks to go before turning our responsibilities over to the next Board. Seeing in late July how the basic lack of our Chapter Bylaws was bound to stymie 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 required under Section 1 of Article VII, titled Chapters and Functions, of the Amended Bylaws of AFPOVAI, which state that Phase Chapters must adopt their own Bylaws which should not be inconsistent with the AFPOVAI Bylaws.

Election IRR

We also drafted our IRR for the conduct of our own elections, which favor electronic voting – 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.

The IRR was later revised to suit the requirements of the AFPOVAI Board’s guidance, which led to the creation of our own Chapter Election Committee.

And to ensure that things were done right, your Board passed three resolutions during our last three Saturday meetings: one, detailing the processes and procedures in the conduct of Board elections centered on electronic voting; another, creating the Phase 678 Chapter COMENO or the ELECOM for this year’s elections; and the third, approving the AFPOVAI Phase 678 Chapter Bylaws for subsequent ratification by the Phase 678 Chapter Members and submission to the AFPOVAI Board.

The passing of the draft Chapter Bylaws shall be the first task of the next Board.

Hastened Assembly

Then with time running short in our preparations for a kind of elections that should only bring us closer in understanding and common vision, we were compelled to call for this General Assembly within the last two weeks.

My fellow lot owners, you cannot imagine the pain we went through these past three days. Initially we wanted to see if the elections could be done right via this zoom meeting, but continuous discussion on possible solutions led us to text messaging the links, and finally accessing our electronic ballots through the QR code, developed by the unassuming Julie, an IT student and sister-in-law of Mark, himself.

Thankfully, we’ve been able to proceed with surprising efficiency because of those QR codes and the computerized approach by our Election Committee, headed by Col Melva Bonifacio, who even tapped her daughter Charmaine to help with the links via zoom. Of course, the hard work done by Gigi, Tess and Mark, demonstrated there at the busy corner of our registration and voting area, is plain to see. They definitely deserve a warm round of applause.

Best News Up Front: The First Processed Five Deeds of Sale

Now let me admit that even as we took with initial disappointment the delay in DENR’s processing of our lot applications, there was one development that made our day. Last week we found out right in the thick of our preparations that the first five (5) deeds of sale had been signed by the Regional Executive Director of DENR NCR and are now due for notarization.

For a while we thought that everything had to be reviewed again and the process would be reset. But the process we have persistently pursued through the JTF has now yielded the first deeds of sale, positive proof of the proper spade work jointly done by the DENR, AFPOVAI Main and Phase 678 Chapter, which was all aboveboard.

Again, like the creation of the JTF, the lifting of the 17-year suspension order and the one-stop shop processing approach, this development now leaves the gate open for all of us to finally get our own deeds of sale. All we need to do is remain in good standing and patiently wait for our turn. This will take deliberate speed. But the good thing is: that gate leading to our lots at the golf course, that gate that has seemingly remained shut to us forever – yes, that gate to our Phase 678 Chapter community is not going to be closed and locked anymore.

Best News at the Legal End: The SC’s Final Decision

If that was the best breakthrough at the processing end, here is the best news at the legal front. Last September 13, the Division Clerk of Court of the Supreme signed a Notice to all parties in interest in the G.R 235619 (Philippine Navy Golf Club, Inc. et al. versus Medardo Abaya et. al.).
The Notice stated that “Acting on the petitioner’s motion for reconsideration of the Decision dated July 13, 2020, and considering that the basic issues have already been passed upon and that there is no substantial argument to warrant a modification of this Court’s decision, the Court resolves to DENY (in bold letters) reconsideration with FINALITY (again in bold letters).”

The same communication stressed that “NO FURTHER (still in bold letters) pleadings, motions, letters or other communications shall be entertained herein,” thereby leaving no other remedy to the other party, but to yield the lots to the four intrepid plaintiffs, and in due time, our own land to us.

While this is obviously not part of your current Board’s accomplishments, I mention this nonetheless because this is by far the biggest breaking story in our long struggle to claim our AFPOVAI lots and develop our community. And there is no better occasion than this to, in fact, recognize the people who made this happen, not least of whom was the person who selflessly provided help and assistance to General Abaya, Mrs Sta Clara, and the Maglonzo and Follosco families in carrying the fight from the RTC all the way to the Supreme Court past and beyond the MR filed by the former Solicitor General in behalf of the Philippine Navy.

Due Recognition

We all know that she answered the call for help by representing the group in various agencies, notably DENR and the RD of Taguig, united a previously fragmented part of our association, kept in touch with over 600 members, and even gave financial support to many of those in dire need.

What she did no doubt leaves a landmark legacy for all of us. But unfortunately, last May 20, 2022, she left to join our Creator. In grateful acknowledgment, may I therefore request everyone to stand and render a one-minute silence in remembrance of and prayer for Ms Margarita Cobarrubias. She was gone too soon at 70… Thank you.

Board’s Tour of Duty Completed

On this note of broad accomplishments, your 2021-2022 Board of Directors, proudly complete our tour of duty today, with our mission accomplished, our key objectives achieved, and the path ahead cleared of the erstwhile major obstacles. It’s been a landmark year for all of us.

We also gladly welcome a new phase of service yet with our Phase 678 Chapter – should we deserve your trust anew.

But this time, we wish to strongly endorse for your solid vote the candidacy of General Generoso Senga as our representative to the AFPOVAI Board to truly protect our interest and advance our cause.

Mabuhay ang Phase 678 Chapter. Praise be to God for all his blessings. God bless us all.