Chinoy group under fire!

TROUBLE is brewing in the supposedly tightly-knit Filipino-Chinese community in this city. Mounting a one-man fight, businessman Mariano Uy of Miravilla Restaurant fame, took to task the entire membership of the Board of Trustees of the Bohol Wisdom School, for having constituted an illegal board. In a check with the Filipino-Chinese community, it was gathered that majority of the ethnic group are behind the BWS Board of Trustees. The main target of Uy's diatribes is Dr. Simplicio Yap, Jr., acting chairman of the board of trustees. Uy accused Yap of spending corporate funds without board approval such as lavish fireworks display, parties and dinner, among others. Sought for his reaction, Yap laughed off the charges hurled against him. Yap said the humble beginnings of the BWS bore no semblance of any participation from Uy. He recalled that sometime in the 80's some seven Chinese Filipinos (Chinoys) pooled their meager resources to build what is now the Bohol Wisdom School . Yap enumerated the seven and their corresponding shares as Frederick Ong, two shares; Albert Uy of People's Lumber, two shares; Marlito Uy, two shares; the late Alfonso Uy, one share; Dr. Yap, one share; Jose Ong, one share; and John Yap, one share. The equivalent of one share was P100,000.

COUP DE ETAT

What started the misunderstanding between Uy”s group and the majority of the Chinoy community was when Uy was deposed as chairman of the board in 2004. In the language of the Yap group, it was some sort of a coup de etat mounted against Uy's leadership. On the surface, Uy appeared to be waging a lonely fight. However, he said he has also his own group of supporters only that they are afraid to come out in the open. In mounting his one-man show, Uy called the entire membership of the Fil-Chinese community to a general assembly and elect a new set of officers. Citing that the present board is illegal, Uy wondered aloud why the acting chairman was so afraid to have an election and relinquish his post.

Following the ouster of Uy in 2004, elected as his successor was Engr. Teofilo Lim. Lim, however, filed a leave of absence paving the way for Dr. Yap to assume the post of acting chairman. It did not help that Lim was a close friend of Uy during their Rotary days. Following Lim's succession of his Rotary mentor as chairman of the BWS Board of Trustees their relation was never been the same again. Asked why Uy considered the present board as illegal, Dr. Yap said it might be because it was not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the principle of “inato lang” the board thrived all these years until it was engulfed with the present controversy. Only months ago, the BWS hugged the local headlines after the Caberte affair sharply divided the two warring groups. It may be recalled that Zenaida Caberte, school directress and her husband Jose, high school principal, resigned from their BWS posts reportedly due to an unhealthy working relationship with the board.

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