Polo Club seen close to financial ruin after adverse court ruling

The Manila Polo Club has been hit by a court ruling against its issuance of associate memberships and a group of concerned members said the present board’s failure to provide against this possibility now threatens the once-prestigious club with financial ruin.

In a ruling issued Aug. 29 but brought to light only yesterday, the Court of Appeals overturned a decision of the SEC en banc and upheld an SEC hearing officer who ruled that the club did not have the authority to add conditions not included in the by-laws.

The ruling will affect over 400 associate members taken in by the club since 1998 and some P155 million in associate membership fees that had been collected. The fees have been depleted, however, because successive MPC boards have used them to cover operating losses and fund huge capital expenditures in the last few years.

Use of the associate membership fees has been at the center of the controversy in the club over recent months with the board under persistent attack for commingling the fees with the club’s general funds.

The Good Governance Team, a membership group seeking reform of club leadership, criticized the present board led by president Policarpo Ascalon for neglecting to make provisions for the event of court defeat and for keeping the news of the ruling from members despite knowing about it since Sept. 5.

"Because of the board’s regrettable shortcomings, the members are faced with an almost insurmountable problem and the Polo Club may be confronting financial ruin," Ambassador Roberto Romulo of the Good Governance Team said in a letter sent to Ascalon yesterday.

"The board should have made provisions in the event that the case filed by Atty. Jaime Blanco prospered," he said. "We have always argued that the fees should have remained restricted. But the fact that the board knew of this pending court case and yet failed to make appropriate contingency plans is concrete proof of gross mismanagement."

Romulo likewise bewailed the fact that this very serious development in the case was kept secret from the membership and even from board members. "Atty. Blanco’s letter dated Sept. 5, 2002 was received by the club on the same date," he said.

The Manila Polo Club is set to hold its annual membership meeting and board elections today, Sept. 25, which many club members hope will produce an overhaul of the club’s leadership and management. The Good Governance Team – composed of Roman Azanza Jr., Isabel Caro Wilson, Jose Cuisia Jr., Roberto Romulo and Jesus Tambunting – is vying for seats in the MPC board.

Romulo said the handling of the Court of Appeals ruling and the associate membership fund are just another example of "management irresponsibility that confirms the urgent need for change in the club."