FCT Brushes Off Audit Results

Volume 3, Issue No. 20

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 and beyond . . . . . .

 

 The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Thursday, December 23, 2021 

~ The long-delayed financial statement or the scathing results of an audit - which one is more relevant in the midst of demands for transparency among officers of Filipino Centre Toronto? Obviously, both are significant. But for some reason, FCT published only the former which shows, without explanation, its financial situation in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The result of an independent audit, scathing as it is, appears to have been brushed off. 

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .

OBSCURITY, THE FLIPSIDE OF TRANSPARENCY

FCT Publishes Old Financials 

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state on innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.” - James Baldwin

TORONTO - On the day I put out my article about the damning results of an audit of Filipino Centre Toronto, the non-profit released on its website a two-page copy of its financial statement covering the years 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Lumped in what it calls "financials" - a document entitled 2020-2021 annual report - were the "statement of financial position as of December 31, 2018" and "statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018".

The statements took three long years to disclose, quite possibly because FCT can no longer withstand the growing demand for transparency from whistleblowers, concerned members, the community, and the very compelling revelation by auditors of "major accounting deficiencies" in the organization.

Unless readers of the financials are schooled in accounting or have some working knowledge of it, the numbers there are nothing but numbers. To the trained eye, however, those numbers speak volumes, perhaps behind them might conceal some trade secrets.

From what I knew, financial statements are intended to give light, not darkness, to numbers not easily understood by commoners. They are supposed to walk us through the meaning of every entry and how it impacts members.

FCT's move to publish them had run the course of three years of deliberations, controversy, media suppression, and denunciation only to arrive at the end without as much as a simple explanation about FCT's revenues and assets. "Go figure it out for yourself," was probably the message officers wanted to tell members.

Now left to our own devices, the option available is to compare the financials with the scathing outcome of the third party independent audit performed by the accounting and auditing firm Yale PGC LLP.

While Yale PGC LLP distances itself from its findings, the report it produced gave us an idea of the inner workings of FCT officers. What it found was not surprising at all. Whistleblowers and concerned members have been talking about what they believe are irregularities in FCT, thus their demand for transparency and accountability.

What is astonishing is the question of why FCT did not publish the results of the 40-plus pages of the audit that had been handed to members during the annual general meeting on November 14. These are the more substantive part that accurately portrays FCT, in my opinion.

I can only speculate. Was it because it's an outright condemnation of what appears to be a clandestine practice within the disintegrating walls of this fixer-upper now home to Filipino Centre Toronto?

One thought that occupies my mind is whether FCT's decision to purchase this old structure in Scarborough had figured in the determination to sell its old digs in downtown Toronto knowing the former requires expensive maintenance upkeep.

I believe this fixer-upper is not much different from what an FCT official had condemned as a "cockroach and mice-infested" two-story building on Parliament St. that had been FCT's office and rental property for more than a decade.

The numbers apparently pushed forward the move to the east village of Scarborough. The Parliament quarters in the historic St. James Town/Cabbagetown neighbourhood where Tagalog is the predominant second language (next to English) brought in $5.9 million. That money easily transformed FCT into a multimillionaire.

The Scarborough property, reportedly a former antique center and auction house, cost FCT $1.9 million in cold, hard cash to obtain. Within a few months of its acquisition, FCT threw in $1 million for repairs, effectively raising expense costs to nearly $3 million. So, how much is left of the $5.9 million given the alleged runaway spending at FCT?

Why relocate? A blog entry in the local business improvement area says FCT president Mary Ann San Juan "likes the location because it’s so visible and many people will see the sign every day. Many groups tour the facilities and rent the space for events, meetings and special occasions".

One item in the blog that caught my attention was the paragraph that says "she has been a very dedicated volunteer for many years, keeping the facility running smoothly". There, she also disclosed that FCT has "seven full-time employees" and high school student volunteers.

That San Juan is a "dedicated volunteer" is new to me. It's the first time too that I learn that FCT has seven full-time employees! Well, my cynicism stems from circumstances that seem to redefine the meaning of volunteer. 

In law, a volunteer is "a person who works without pay or assumes an obligation to which he or she is not a party or otherwise interested". That keeps bothering me. If that is the case, why is FCT saddled with monetary claims from individuals who are supposed to be volunteers? Are FCT officers volunteers or paid employees? (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).