Fellow Homeowners,
Your Board would like to respond to the following issues that were raised during the General Membership Meeting last April 17, 2010, viz.
1. The engagement of Jones Lang LaSalle Leechui as village property manager;
2. Perceived high cost of security services being rendered by King Henry Security Agency
3. Resultant deficit due to increase of costs of two (2) services above-mentioned and
4. Results of the recently conducted election of the Village Board of Directors
On the engagement of Jones Lang LaSalle Leechui to take charge of the village management, let it be stated that the previous Board f Directors has conceived, from the beginning of its term in 2008, to explore the possibility to replace the previous village manager under Ms. Sanchez' Building Management and General Services Group (BMGSI). The move was made and was put into confidential discussion on the premise of the various concerns, feedbacks and silent moves and clamor to have a new village management and considering further that BMGSI has been with our village for more or less six (6) years. C.B. Richard Ellis Philippines, Inc. (CBRE), Global Land Property Management Inc. and FCP Group Philippines, were among the outfit the said previous Board considered and had some initial discussions. While admittedly, BMGSI has a very low management fee, the your previous Board was prompted by incessant complaints directed against the Village Manager herself as well as complaints from staff of BMGSI. This is precisely the reason why the previous Board had never renewed an annual agreement with BMGSI but instead put their engagement on a month-to-month basis. These issues prompted the then Board of Directors to pursue such replacement.
The current Board has put the Management Contract with Jones Lang under close review and scrutiny. Your five (5) member Board i.e. Directors Romero, Rodriguez, Samson, Madarang and Martinez, sans the two (2) members namely Director Madarang and Martinez who were part of the previous Board, will not participate in the evaluation on whether the engagement of the new Village Management is one which is advantageous to the Association and its appointment a sound exercise of discretion and judgment.
The engagement of King Henry Security Agency was prompted by persistent complaints of the previous security provider, ACT Security Agency. Acts of negligence, sleeping on duty, lack of respect, and even theft has prompted its replacement. Be reminded also that the various complaints also triggered the irregular and continuous replacement of ACT's Officer-in-Charge as well as the security guard on detail to the village. Our previous Board, in the exercise of its prerogative, has initially put a working budget cap as a way to have flexibility in determining the reasonable cost vis-a-vis the PADPAO rate. Four (4) agencies participated in the bidding including the ACT Security. Presentations were made during the monthly Board meeting last February 2009 and after deliberation, it was awarded to King Henry as recommended by Ms. Sanchez, the then Village Manager.
While both the engagement of jones Lang as the new Village Management as well as the improvement in the cost of the security services entails additional cost, a benchmark evaluation of similar services being rendered to other villages within the Sta. Rosa-Biñan area, whether the same were developed by Avida (formerly LPHI) and/or other developers, the cost of which versus our village management fee are competitive and thus reasonable. The establishment of such gauge to determine reasonableness also provide our Association such protection in case of suits that may result due to labor and employment concerns that may arise being secondary employers and may be liable for unclaimed wages and benefits of village management staff. Finally, it must also be emphasized that our present rate of assessment dues was computed and established way back in 2004 and while the previous Board of Directors ably managed to cushion the effects of guaranteed increases in maintaining the village, it will certainly reach to a point that our collection, both actual and projected, will inevitably not enough to sustain such village maintenance costs.
As regards to the just concluded village election, while everyone recognizes the independence in the creation, appointment, process and the decisions rendered by the Election Committee (EleCom) during the entire exercise, let it be settled that your new Board fully support all the actions, prerogatives, judgment as well as the submitted recommendations of the EleCom. While we understand that there were some contentious issues raised during the election day itself, suffice it to state that we commend the EleCom in the way they were able settle the same, guided by the existing rules set, as well as the By-Laws of the Association.
In closing, your new Board will discuss above matter at length in a General Membership meeting we will be setting in the near future.
God Bless our Village.
On behalf of the Board.
Very truly yours,
ROMMEL ROMERO
President
