Mr. Danny Peralta has all the qualifications to be a good president and institute changes in the ‘God forsaken’ Philippine Community Council — NSW (PCC). But the incumbent leadership didn’t want him. He is too straight. He is a no-nonsense leader. He would not succumb to the bullying tactics of other officers and directors. It was part of the grand design of the external vice president who was re-elected into office during the pathetic Annual General Meeting (AGM) that took place last March 14.
Just like any dirty politician who lords it over in the Philippines, Alric Bulseco found a means to discredit Peralta as the Treasurer of PCC. During the PCC board meeting that preceded the AGM, Bulseco invented a loophole to prevent the presentation of a Treasurer’s report. His cohorts in PCC unwittingly believed him that there were ‘inaccuracies’ in the treasurer’s report when the ‘inaccuracies’ were in fact his own fabrication.
Bulseco did not want the Treasurer’s report to be presented because his unpaid debt of $690 was still contained in it. The amount owing dates back to June 2014. That was eleven months ago! Bulseco sold Philippine National Day Ball tickets and to this date, has not remitted the full proceeds of such sales. Bulseco somehow persuaded the PCC board to allow him to pay in instalments, which as of this writing has not yet been fully paid. Another PCC director sold advertising space in the Souvenir Program but such Ads amounting to hundreds of dollars has remained unpaid.
That was the root cause of the fiasco that happened during the PCC AGM.
The board members, sadly, including Jun Relunia, the outgoing president did not want the Treasurer’s Report to be presented because of the ‘inaccuracies’ that they invented.
In all the 20 years that I had been in Australia, Mr. Peralta, to my mind, is the most qualified treasurer that PCC has ever had. It is a big insult for anyone to make comparisons with his predecessor who ‘touched’ the bank account of the Philippine Australian Disaster Emergency Relief (PADER) because PCC-NSW Commonwealth Bank Account had no sufficient funds.
Peralta held the position of Senior Commercial Accountant and Financial Director of 5 star hotel operations including companies in the travel industry. He had extensive experience in corporate management, feasibility studies, and report submissions to the board of large corporations. He has comprehensive knowledge of Fair Trading laws including rules regarding establishment and governance of non-profit organizations including requirements from the Australian Tax Office and compliance reports.
I cannot say much about Ms. Evelyn Beed, president-elect of PCC because I do not know her. What I know is because of the affiliate’s refusal to make Peralta president, they lost a good man who can clean up the so-called ‘peak body’ of Philippine associations in NSW.
Did they conduct clean elections?
I was the only member of media who viewed the counting of ballots. I was behind the canvassers. It was so fast for me to detect any anomaly. What I noticed was that there were some people holding as many as three ballots of the same colour. Thus, each of those persons could have voted 3 times. I should really question the integrity of the people who were tasked to distribute the ballots. Were they honest or were they merely following instructions from the ‘dirty politician?’
The event was so pathetic
What happened during the Philippine Community Council (PCC) Annual General Meeting last March 14 was so pathetic that the event does not really deserve any space in Philippine Sentinel.
Some of the people who were elected do not deserve the position, much less to represent the Filipino community in New South Wales. Those affiliates who elected them into office were even more pathetic than the persons they voted for. Henceforth, I shall refer to PCC as Philippine Community Chaos.
In consideration of the respectable few, I shall not bother to publish the photos of the new members of the board. — by Dino Crescini