FCT Co-Founder Resigns But Vows to Continue to Help

Volume 2, Issue No. 66

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

 

 Our latest as of Friday, July 9, 2021 

~ That the statement comes from a respected member of the community should be significant. Call it a wake-up call, but Dr. Victoria Santiago, a co-founder of Filipino Centre Toronto, minces no words when she says FCT should come clean. Indeed years have passed and FCT officials have fortified themselves, perhaps muted by their own fears, and stayed quiet despite repeated demands for an audit of its finances. Dr. Santiago has resigned from the organization but she remains committed to supporting its special projects.

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AS DR. VICTORIA SANTIAGO, CO-FOUNDER, QUITS

Filipino Centre Toronto Should Come Clean

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“One person with commitment accomplishes more than a thousand with an opinion.” ― Orrin Woodward

TORONTO - One of the renowned founders of a Filipino community organization in the Greater Toronto Area has left the group because, according to insiders, she had been rendered voiceless in the administration of FCT.

But Dr. Victoria Santiago, a family dentist who operates at least three dental clinics in the city, said she quit Filipino Centre Toronto, the non-profit she helped found 20 years ago, on personal grounds.

"My reason for my resignation was personal," she tells this reporter in response to questions about her reported leaving. "I’m going to work part-time in my chosen profession - in short, semi-retire," she adds.

Knowledgeable sources within the FCT claimed Dr. Santiago supported an independent audit of FCT finances following the 2017 sale of its old downtown building for $5.9 million and the acquisition of a fixer-upper one-story structure in Scarborough for $1.9 million.

"She is in favour of the audit, but one against 18 other members of the board she is not winning," sources explained. An audit would help clarify the current financial condition of FCT, particularly the status of the $4-million remainder of the sale. 

As this article was being finalized on Friday, July 9, 2021, Dr. Santiago reacted to a comment that FCT should come clean and that "to the best of my knowledge, an audit is happening". 

"Of course, FCT has to come clean because the public, including yours truly, have donated funds. But I don't think I can change that culture. I mean I cannot change that culture," she stresses.

An identical article in two Filipino tabloids said the audit could "clear up outstanding concerns and matters on its accounting practices and questions relating to accounts payable of $678,000 that the BOD (board of directors) only revealed to its members right after the 2017 sale of its building asset.

The leadership of FCT headed by Mary San Juan, president, and Efren de Villa, board chairman, appears lukewarm to repeated demands by both members and whistle-blowers for an audit. Whistleblowers claimed the FCT board still has to come out with financial statements covering the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

That five-year period covers the time - the year 2017 - when FCT sold its building on Parliament St. and made a significant amount of money. The following year, 2018, FCT bought its present home for $1.9 million.

All those years and earlier, except 2020, Dr. Santiago claimed she was effectively gone from FCT. 

"I’ve been out of the FCT board since 2013," she states, though she continued supporting the organization by participating in its gala parties, basketball tournaments, and other activities where she was the main sponsor.

"Being absent from the board meetings from 2013-2019 has created a big gap in continuity that made me wonder the credibility. So I decided to stay out," she clarifies.

In 2020, Dr. Santiago said she rescinded her earlier decision and got back again because FCT was in need of board members. "I obliged myself to rejoin," she says, thus breaking her promise to help "not as a board member".

She said her decision to stay out and help in special projects "should not be misconstrued as endorsement of everything about FCT. This is my way of giving back".

A "Vicki", who was later confirmed to be Dr. Victoria Santiago, was among six claimants identified only by their nicknames and initials, to whom FCT allegedly owed money totaling $678,000. Their monetary claims surfaced once FCT had completed the sale of its building for $5.9 million.

For her part, according to documents obtained by this reporter, FCT paid "Vicki" $300,000. The other claimants and the payment they received from FCT are: "RCJ" (Rosalinda Cerrudo-Javier, now deceased, former FCT president - $96,000; "Felino" (Felino Javier, husband of RCJ) - $122,000; "CRA" (Canada Revenue Agency) - $122,000; "Wendy" (Wendy Arena) - $30,000; and "S and J Mechanicals - $8,000.

The alleged payments have been at the center of controversy for years now. Both Mary San Juan, president, and Efren de Villa, board chairman, have not said anything on the issue. Even when reached for comment for this story, neither responded as of this writing.

Dr. Santiago's departure is "another blow to FCT's unsettled image," a published article by Maria CJ de Villa says. "Dr. Santiago was known to be a voice of reason and conscience in FCT governance and aims as a Board member to adequately address issues and champion the truth". (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).