Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.

Hello and good day to all activists worldwide fighting against crooks disguised as philanthropists and do-gooders operating within clubs and associations. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.

What you are about to discover is the story of a former Rotarian who had the courage to stand up and shed light on a subtle, clever scam that was occurring within a Rotary Club in the Philippines. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.  

In the year 2005, in Provence of Bohol Philippines, a story may seem a bit old and outdated, but the sophistication of the scheme, while not entirely unique, was not an isolated case within Rotary International. The perpetrators of this scam had a few mentors who were well-versed in the practice from their experiences in the USA and Australia. They subsequently passed their knowledge on to local Rotarians in Cebu and Bohol.

Evan ILIADIS,, a member of the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran  alerted the Rotary administration in Evanston, Illinois, to the fact that they seemed more focused on protecting the club's reputation than addressing his accusations. Consequently, he decided to take the matter to a public tribunal by first publishing the story on the club's own website: rotarycluboftagbilaran.org. van ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.

EHe published no fewer than 60 entries detailing the scam, naming and shaming the unscrupulous crooks who were taking advantage of the desperation of poor people in the rural areas of Bohol. These individuals were only giving 10 cents of each donated dollar by generous Rotarians and, more importantly, tby the Rotary Foundation (TRF), which amounts to thousands of US dollars. 

 Years later, Evan shut down nearly all blogs related to the Rotary without providing any explanation to his thousands of readers. I was one of those readers, as well as a contributor who organized mailing campaigns to subscribers around the world. I reached out to him multiple times, but all my requests went unanswered. I wondered if he had passed away. However, I later found out that he is still very much alive. Whatever the reason for his silence, I, Gerald Tevenier, have decided to revive his blogs. I didn't have the necessary material, but way back machine had archived them. It is crucial for every generation to grasp the significance of this knowledge, as it holds the key to shaping a better future for our world.

Let's get started.

 

 VILLAGE AIDE PROGRAM(VAP rip-off) as we know it.

van ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.

Evan ILIADIS wrote.First, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Evan Iliadis, a former member of the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran (RCT) on the island of Bohol, Philippines, where I lived for six years. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

From day one after my induction in March 2004, I made community service a priority. I volunteered my time without pay, serving children, the elderly, and individuals with mental disabilities. The funds for this service were provided by the Village Aide Program (VAP), an organization based in Australia, founded by Rotarian Derek Pyrah and his former family.

He, Pyrah, made headlines by leaving his partner at the age of 62 to move to the Philippines for a romantic relationship with a 20-year-old Filipino girl. The funds for this endeavor were managed by former Rotarian and Past President of the Rotary Club of [RCT], Dave Collins. 

In August 2007, I received the Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) award, which my club unanimously agreed I deserved. The $1,000 cost was covered by the VAP. However, I was not thrilled at all. I wish I had received the award from the president of the Rotary Club as a genuine recognition of my services to the club, rather than unknowingly contributing to VAP's questionable business practices..-van ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.

Back on September 2007, as a member of the ROTARY CLUB OF TAGBILARAN (RCT for short) I filed a request with the club asking the president to investigate the then Rotarians Dave and Baby Collins members of the said club the whereabouts of the following amounts of money: Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

-5 Matching Grants (MG) have been approved, and funds have been wired by The Rotary Foundation (TRF) to a Metro Bank (MB) account. The custodians of this account are David Collins and Deoscoro Uy, who is the manager of the local MB branch, a past president of the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran (RCT), and the treasurer. The MG I am referring to includes:

- RC Milton-Mowbray Matching Grant 2006  P 800,000.00
- RC Milton-Mowbray Matching Grant 2007P950,000.00
- RC Collingwood Canada  Matching Grant 2007 P790,000.00
- RC Wilshire Blvd Hollywood Matching Grant 2007 P 900,000.00
- RC West Wollongong Matching Grant 2007 P 902,739.95

-Thousands of US dollars received from donations given by clubs and Rotarians around the world were never recorded in the club's accounting report, as presented during the regular meeting by Treasurer Deo Uy. Instead, these funds were deposited into an MB account, of which only Collins and Deo were custodians. They were the only ones aware of the details regarding the money, which violates Rotary International bylaws that require every single dollar to be deposited in a bank account controlled by the club. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

10 million pesos (approximately US$250,000.00) was received from the Village Aide Program based in Australia, as claimed by Baby Collins on a banner posted outside her pawn shop in downtown Tagbilaran City. The club had no prior knowledge of any financial transactions or bank account under their control involving such amounts as stated on the banner.

- A detailed cost and bidding documents are required for all construction projects financed by the RI, as stipulated in the terms and conditions of the TRF. This includes projects like the construction of water-less toilets, water tanks, and others. However, these tasks were instead carried out by Dave Collins, who acted as a prime contractor and employed his own workers. This action violated the "conflict of interest" section outlined in the TRF bylaws. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

-The RCT formed an investigative committee to address the complaint. However, the Collins family, when ordered to attend scheduled appointments to explain the accusations, did not comply. Instead, they chose to leave the club, opting for the status of fugitives rather than attempt to defend the indefensible. They were aware that my allegations were solidly founded and fully supported by their own fingerprints. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

At the same time, I notified the TRF about the fraud—there's no other term that quite fits—by submitting the necessary documentation to support my claims. I directed this information to Meredith Berliew and Colette Martin-Wilde, both coordinators of the Matching Grant program, as well as Heather Fosburgh, the stewardship supervisor, all three of whom are based at the RI headquarters in Evanston, Illinois.

-At the time of my inquiry, not all the funds were invested in the intended projects. Collins and Deo Uy were asked to provide a full accounting of the funds received and to disclose the whereabouts of the unused money. Baby Collins responded that they returned 4 million pesos (approximately 88 thousand US dollars) to the TRF. However, no proof of this claim was provided to the investigators. 

Meanwhile, the TRF ordered Catherine King, a senior Matching Grant supervisor and coordinator for the Southeast Asia Rotary clubs, to investigate my allegations. She cleared the RCT of any wrongdoing, indicating that the club could reapply for Matching Grants if they wished. However, when asked to provide information about the 4 million pesos that Collins claimed to have returned, she has not responded. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

-Out of the hundreds of emails I received, I selected two examples of typical comments that reflect many others. Both comments were written by American Rotarians. Does this make a difference? It certainly does. Their pragmatism is often not well received by the rest of the world, particularly in developing countries, due to a lack of sensitivity and understanding of other cultures—unless they have actually spent time there. “Bill’s” comment below is a typical example of this. Meanwhile, “George” suggests that I should go “right on the money,” so to speak!

 Here is the first:

“I found your site interesting, especially as a brand new Rotarian. The only thing I’d question, without knowing ANY facts, is how much better would these people have been if the Rotarians had done NOTHING?”
Bill. (Not his real name)

Bill, not many will agree with your approach to charity work. If you are cheating the IRS by paying only $100 in taxes instead of the $1,000 you actually owe, should the people be grateful to you for paying something instead of nothing? The real issue here is the motivation behind "helping" the poor, how much money was received, and how much was actually invested. Should we be thankful to the individuals mentioned above and below when they ask for a dollar donation to feed the hungry, claiming that 97% of the funds go to the cause, only to find that when you open the bag, it contains only 20 cents worth of food? Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

 

I have distributed hundreds of the famous "bundle of joy" and know what I’m talking about! So, based on your opinion (and philosophy), should we applaud them for giving 20 cents instead of the 97% they claimed they would give?

 

 

  He claims, both here and in several other documents I possess, that the administrator's cost is only 2.3% of the budget, which is meant to cover travel expenses and accommodations for trips from Australia to the Philippines five times a year. This budget also caters to numerous guests from Australia, as well as travel and accommodation expenses for RI officials, board members, and his ex-wife—all funded by this 2.3% allocation from an annual income of $100K as Derek Pyrah claims? I'll leave the conclusion to the readers. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

-The second email came from a respected long-time Rotarian with an honorable record in the organization. Let's call him "George." He wrote: “If it is about money, be specific about how the money actually flowed and how it should have flowed. You don’t need much more than that.” 

Request granted, George. Although I have often described my accusations, let me put it simply and directly one more time. I am accusing them of the following: Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

1. There have been accusations of defrauding individuals, Rotarians, clubs, and organizations in Australia and around the world. The VAP leaders, Derek Pyrah and Dave Collins, allegedly misled donors into contributing funds by misrepresenting their actions. They instructed donors to deposit money not into a bank account controlled by the RCT Club, but into an account that they (Collins and treasurer PP Deo Dioscoro) managed entirely, without the club's knowledge of its existence. Notably, Deo Dioscoro serves as the manager of the Metro Bank where these accounts were held. This serves as just one example of the issue. If interested you can read more inside this blogEvan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 
   
2. Dave Collins is accused of defrauding TRF of thousands of dollars by misrepresenting the use of the MG. He failed to disclose that he was the contractor-builder for all the construction projects submitted for financing. Instead, he claimed that a construction company named Valles Construction, located in Tagbilaran, Bohol, was hired for the work. However, there is no record of such a company under this name in the Trades and Industry Department database in Bohol. Look at the mails sent by him to to RI and other recipients, including myself.
    

   

   
   

   
   

   

   Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.
   

   
   

I’m asking again, George: On what basis should I overlook the fact that all the medication purchased did not reach its intended destination—a free distribution to the poor—but instead was diverted to the shelves of his wife’s pharmacy for sale? Baby Collins is better known for her obsession with changing her cell phone weekly to always have the latest model, as well as her European-made

They are claiming, "Oh yes! We have receipts!" But what receipts are they talking about? All of them are in the name of her pharmacy, covering what she purchases for her business as well as for the Rotary. Has anyone actually seen any of these receipts? If you have, please raise your hand.

-Once I submitted a request to my club to open an investigation into the matters described above, the President formed an investigative committee to explore the allegations. They arranged several meetings with Collins and PP Dioscoro for discussions and were instructed to submit the bank account passbooks—what we call savings account booklets in the Philippines—where all transactions are recorded. (I wondered why they didn’t have a checking account.) Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

However, they refused to cooperate, disappeared, and did not attend either the investigation meetings or the regular meetings. "George, do you know anyone innocent who behaves this way? If my allegations, as submitted to the club and to Rotary International, were driven by malice due to a personal vendetta, it would be easy for such powerful individuals to dismiss them right from the start. Instead, they chose to hide rather than take the time to provide an explanation." Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

-The Rotary International (RI) and the District Governor (DG) were informed about these facts a long time ago. Their inaction on this matter not only led to a “let it go” attitude but also encouraged the accused to further amplify their already unhealthy and predatory behavior towards the local Rotary community. The RI has encountered this story before Please review the details and let me know if this is relevant to the RI or not.

Evan ILIADIS wrote this.

Rotary should revoke the memberships of VAP founders Derek Pytah and Dave Collins due to their unlawful and defamatory actions against another Rotary club, the Rotary Club of Upper Tagbilaran in Bohol, Philippines 

In a time when District Governors were directed by Rotary to prioritize the creation of new clubs and the induction of new members, some were conspiring to undermine the chartering of a specific club. They spread defamatory information about several future members in an unethical manner, attempting to discredit them. This effort was close to succeeding. While they offered to sponsor these individuals, their true intention was to tarnish their reputations and derail their efforts. However, despite their tactics, the plans ultimately fell short. to their persistence, fighting, (Link goes to the wayback archive)  support and common sense of the then DG 3860 Evelyn Magno the RCUT survived the coup. Today, 2 years later this club enjoys the full recognition of the people of Bohol and the questionable support of the DG Yumi Espina. Read this, take a look in the photo and be the judge. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

What motivated this plot? The answer lies in fear, hate, and greed. Collins had numerous reasons to fear the establishment of this club comprised entirely of Filipinos, particularly young men and intellectuals. In contrast, the RCT had only 10 out of its 25 members who were foreigners. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

  - Members of the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran were concerned that former Rotarians, who had left the club after colluding with Baby to facilitate their own departures, might join a new club and retaliate against them. This raised questions about why they had facilitated their own termination, a query frequently posed by members regarding their activities. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

 -There is a fear of the discovery of the VAP's dishonest activities on the island. Among the members of the RCUT are experienced engineers. If their chartering goes through, there will be some interaction between the only two clubs in town. "Go tell them that a dry toilet, as they see it, costs 300,000 pesos or 7,000 Australian dollars! They will laugh in your face." Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

-There are concerns that Derek Pyrah may be compelled to provide more equitable support for MG, similar to what he had to do with certain clubs in Cebu. “If you inform your supporters in Australia that you are partnering with District 3860 in the Philippines, you must deliver on that promise. There are other clubs within the district as well, including the RCUT. However, it is out of the question for Collins to collaborate with them. Collins's paranoia reached its peak when President Luella Bantol of the RCT not only continued to invite members but also began visiting the RCUT.”

Read the story as it was published at the local press. It tells it all. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian. 

If they can't find any wrongdoing, they will need to review their members' attitudes, policies, morals, and interpretations of what constitutes misbehavior. Their inaction in this matter has been taken for granted by the accused, leading to further harassment of anyone in their path, including requests for the District Governor of District 3860 to order the closure of the RCT. It is crucial that they address these issues seriously to prevent further escalation. When he said "NO!", the three complainants filed libel charges against Luela Bantol, who was the president during the events in question. It's important to note that libel laws in the Philippines allow the complainant to file either a criminal case, a civil case, or both. In this instance, they chose to file only civil charges, seeking 500,000 pesos from each complainant, which amounts to about $10,000—quite a significant sum by Philippine cost of living standards. Yes, George, you’re right on the money! Do you know of any judge in the world who has sentenced a Rotary president for simply doing her job? Her responsibilities included canceling memberships for non-payment of dues and for not attending regular meetings for over six months. Isn’t that a case of misbehavior? It sounds more like harassment—harassment—harassment! Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.  Finally, I want to address this: This blog has been ongoing for more than a year now, and the same facts are repeated over and over again. Is this still serving a purpose? Yes and no. If your main concern is the financial aspect, George, that's no longer an issue. The money is gone—vanished, and no one will ever face consequences for it. This blog won’t bring it back. As I mentioned before, it was just Rotary money. Now, the focus has shifted to misbehavior, which has caused more harm than the original embezzlement ever did. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.  Time has been kind to Collins. The club did not file any criminal charges against them, despite having plenty of reasons to do so. Instead, they chose to ignore the situation, relieved to regain control of their club. Finally, peace and order prevailed. They hoped that Collins would leave them alone in their challenging task of rebuilding the club's reputation and expanding membership. They were making great progress in both areas. However, Dave Collins, Derek Pyrah,John Van Laar and a few others had a different agenda. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.

City of Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines

THE  CASSATE DROUGHT RELIEF RIPOFF.

CORY ANNE VERGE FLIP-FLOPS AS A VAP MANAGER IN HER SECOND JOB.

the Cassate drought relief ripoff. Some time in the year 2006 Dave Collins and Derek Pyrah were unhappy that not enough money flows in the VAP account in the Philippines. This can be demonstrated in several mails exchanged I have in file. In these mails they are looking for ways to increase their income “for the poor and needy” out side the Rotary where apparently the collect didn’t work as they wanted to.
the Cassate drought relief ripoff.

The Matching Grand Applications to TRF were slow to produce, too bureaucratic for a Collins as anxious he can be. They decided to seek instant gratification by inventing a Darfour situation in the North of the island in a place named Ubay in the village of Cassate. Remember the golden rule:
he Cassate drought relief ripoff.

"Expand on an existing known problem where the people involved can be manipulated with strong emotion."the Cassate drought relief ripoff.

In that village living an American missionary form a church, or what ever the Christian denomination is, called Crossworld. I’ll call it an organization. Her organization built a camp there that building after building became a modern and a 30 hectares huge  place in the middle of the usual  Philippines decor, poverty, that is,  with no really clear purpose, other than in exchange of  some services to children they will have to study the Bible.  I visited the Karr camp – its name-  and interviewed Cory Anne  for the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran Web site since she was a member of this club. I did not really notice any particular compassion towards the poor and needy there; I even understood that there are instances where she had payable activities as well. the Cassate drought relief ripoff.

When Derek visited her camp he was very excited of  what he was seen, and I’m sure the first thing  he did is to take a look in the assets and numbers of her organization cross world.org that every one can consult online. But Collins was reluctant to nominate her “manager” fearing that this may lead to other preferences to his detriment. Eventually, she was nominated, and like any manager of the VAP was awarded the PHF. It was part of Derek’s strategy to show the donors how serious his org is and by whom is managed. But I never knew who was giving his!... May be he  was awarding himself…

Back to our Darfour project, it wasn’t an easy ride for the “brothers”. As you can read in the mails exchanged Cory Ann has been the Golden apple of discord once again, because Collins did not digest the direct contact Pyrah had with her without passing through him first. But that wasn’t the only disagreement they had. By reading line after line you’ll see they were looking for the best way to make it a real Darfour so donors can run to the rescue. Read and judge by yourself. the Cassate drought relief ripoff.

If exaggerated actions as these were common by the “brothers” I didn’t know that it was done  with the blessing of the “sister”. 

 

 In effect, she new the whole scam. At first she wasn’t really in agreement with it, but after a second thought and some pressure she said the “I do”  Why? Collins and Pyrah couldn’t find any other place or a credible person as Cory was then to endorse the operation "Darfour" as a real critical situation “ that if we don’t act hundreds of children will die from starvation”. Starvation in the Philippines? Malnutrition, yes, except some isolated cases here and there no deaths of starvation ever recorded in the Philippines. As for her own benefit in this operation she gained something her church didn’t allow: A budget to maintain a day care feeding in Cassate, and also bring a child once in a while to a hospital “for the picture ” so the VAP can raise 100 times the money she spent.

The operation Cassate drought relief paid off: A lot of money was sent by many clubs, from Manila to Cebu, from the US Canada, Australia, corporations and individuals. Do you know what these children got? A plastic bag they named "bundle of joy" repeated in three deliveries. 

You know what a “bundle of joy” is? The one the children holding up "for the picture" A plastic bag containing I kilo of rice= 20 pesos in 2006, 2 cans of sardines = 10 pesos 1 pack of noodles = 5 pesos. Total per bag= 35 pesos = .70 cents of the US dollar  The pack of milk you see in the photo was donated by a corporation in Manila. There was only 200 children present which makes it 140 dollars per delivery but I’ll take Derek’s number that were 500 children. The cost goes to 350 dollars and I’ll take also Collins assertion that he made 5 deliveries and not 3 as I was told by other sources. This make the total cost of 1,750 dollars. How much they raised? No one knows. They instructed the donors to send the money here:

To themselves, instead of the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran account. Cory Anne knew, because she was instructed also to direct donations –if any- to this account. But she still continues to collaborate with them. Shame on you!!! Look at the list at your left. It's only partial but brought more than 20,000 dollars in cash plus some goodies from corporations. From one club only in Hawaii they received $900.00 

 

Of-course, no such account bearing the name of RC of Tagbilaran existed. Collins pretended that he never received his mail. The truth is that he didn't know what to tell him about the account name. George did not understand what RWACS VAP account was, it didn't make sense to him and send it to RC of Tagbilaran / VAP and was rejected. I forwarded his mail to Collins and eventually the money was wired. To the RAWCS/VAP account.

That's where the donors were instructed to wire donations.Cory Anne knew that this was a rip-off, she was included as a recipient in this mail. She accepted the job. Look at this mail They instructed the donors to send to and account that the rotary Club of Tagbilaran had no idea of its existence

 

 ONE MORE THING To the RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) and particularly to Len Bolden former Chairman for the last 3 and half years and treasurer Jack Elliott: the Cassate drought relief ripoff.

Gentlemen, as you can read, they had –and probably still have it- an account named RAWCS /VAP in a bank in the Philippines with custodians Dave Collins and Dioscoro UY PP of RCT and manager of this bank. How one can open such an account in their names? To my knowledge, and the principle is the same all over the world, to open a corporate account the bank requires corporation constitution documents, directors, manager and more. Have you authorized Collins and Uy to use your entity for the opening of a bank account under the name of RAWCS? He - Derek Pyrah - was directing them to a similar account to his web site until removed. My revelations obliged…. the Cassate drought relief ripoff.

Christopher Bennetts President - RCCM Cebu.

 Christopher Bennetts  President - RCCM Cebu.

Rotary International - Christopher Bennetts  President - RCCM Cebu. 

Crooked business and porn. 

While the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran and the Village Aide Program was battling my allegations on donations and Matching Grants fraud,  another scandal fired up in a Club on Cebu. The now defunct Rotary Club of Central Mactan presided by an Australian national Christopher Bennetts , A.K.A Chris Bennetts  and frequented mostly by foreigners. Christopher Bennetts  President - RCCM Cebu.

The scandal this time wasn't about donations and Matching Grants embezzlement, rather, violations of ethics and morals at its finest. Christopher Bennetts  was using the RC as a shield for protection to his crooked business.
He managed a network of porn sites, including sex-dens, videos and photos. It wasn't about classic sites that people were watching for fun and education. The competition on this field was ferocious, cut-throat, banal found on the net for free. To face the competition and make money Christopher Bennetts had to distinguish himself from others by offering to psychopaths and impotent sensation, cruelt and humiliation. 

He then registered domain names like "asia pee" bukkaki scenes that makes you vomit.  Evan ILIADIS have many of them in his archives, he published some in the past, but I will not. The scenes are beyond real sex, only criminals, sadistic sociopaths will be inspired on methods of torturing women and children.   Christopher Bennetts  President - RCCM Cebu.

 Evan ILIADIS had several blogs regarding the activities of him. He shot them down when he felt he was literally out of business, thanks to Evan, he lost his credibility in the milieu of pimps and criminals that supported him. No one wanted a badly exposed guy that in turn had  to snitch  his cohorts. Here is a screenshot of one of his blogs

 

Rotary International - Christopher Bennetts  President - RCCM Cebu. Crooked business and porn.

 

The all out war on him resulted to the closure of the Rotary Club of Central Mactan, the departure of Christopher Bennetts out of the Philippines before arrest. See the warrant of arrest below. Please note, there aren't clickable links on this image when ever you see any.

Rotary International - Christopher Bennetts  President - RCCM Cebu. Crooked business and porn.

Christopher Bennetts  President - RCCM Cebu.

Rotary Club of Tagbilaran. The trial part 1.

Rotary Club of Tagbilaran. The trial part 1. The Price to pay. Our masters' recipe on how to punish a president.

By Evan Iliadis former Rotarian member of the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran wrote: Rotary Club of Tagbilaran. The trial part 1.

Rotarians and friends, here I am again after a long break sitting back watching on events unfold in Bohol, so unusual and incomprehensible that strikes me as many others aware of the situation, as a masquerade taking place in a court of law in Tagbilaran Bohol Philippines.

Conflicts, misunderstanding rivalry exists within any group of people that gather to achieve a common goal, be a club, a church or a fraternity; usually will end up with the exclusion of one party preserving so the unity of the group, exclusion not always carefully and rightfully planned and executed. The last place you would have expect this to happen is the Rotary International. Is this the first time that happened? We don’t know. Don’t count on Rotary to tell you, neither on active Rotarians. It’s a secret. But this one is not a secret. Just a stupid one you might think? Not at all! It's an intimidation of barbarians, well trained foreigners rotarians against shy, law abide and mistrusting the judicial system Filipino citizens. 

Here is the complaint.

Give me a glass of wine please!

At the center stage of this unusual story are I, Evan Iliadis, former Rotarian member of the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran, Derek Pyrah, chairman of the now defunct VILLAGE AIDE PROGRAM (VAP for short) Dave and Baby Collins managers of the VAP in the Philippines and wannabe bosses of the Rotary club of Tagbilaran. There are some others to be introduced shortly. For those that are new on this blog and want to be familiar with the origin of the conflict they should take a look here 

As I mentioned in the page you just read, I received all kind of mails but I have never mentioned a particular one I was receiving from the beginning by some critics and sympathizers as well. They were accusing me of covering up the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran in my assertion that no one in the club knew about the embezzlement by the Collins and Derek Pyrah of Matching Grants Money and donations. As one put it “ Evan I don’t know a Rotary Club throughout the world that does not include at least one accountant, a lawyer and a few businessmen familiar with accounting and business practices. Taking a look on the classifications of the members of your club they were all there.” 

Indeed, a very embarrassing remark, nevertheless it comes from some one that has no clue how a typical club functions in the third world particularly the Philippines. This requires a separate topic to explain, it may come in a future update or may be down the road here. But the most embarrassing mail on the subject did not come from a Rotarian but an outsider who followed the events from day one and now follows the court proceedings closely. He does not understand what is taking place, who’s who, wants what and why. Frankly, I have been a bit disturbed by his remarks and questions to me, I feel the need to approach the facts with a touch of honesty as I always did and publicly as I always do. 

Before I reply to this fellow and go over the trial proceedings I owe you un update I promised long ago and for this we need to revisit the 3860 District conference held in Cebu March 2008 where a jubilating DG Yumi Espina thought that he had accomplished so much during his tenure as governor that he deserved to throw a half Persepolis half Hollywood style party to the district expenses. The Canadian “dream team” he imported for the event was composed by a controversial PDG that came as “the personal envoy of the RI president” another one was the Rotary representative in the UN, two or three others unknown PP and PDG that gained some fame in their home town in Canada for bringing a few used laptops with them –obsolete in Canada dump them to the Philippines - plus of course the local cream of Rotarians and non. 

Abundance of gourmet food and drinks, dancers, parades, men in military uniform forming a sword canopy for the introduction of the big shots, speeches and crocodile tears about the poor and destitute the dream team wowed “to change all that” “Son et lumière” effects and much more. (Let me know if the life of the poor Cebuano has changed ever since)…The event appeared for awhile on the District’s web site with more than 300 photos then disappeared, not even cached pages can be found other than 2 or 3 bad quality clips on YouTube not worth a referral. Oh well… who cares about dream teams any more…

But Derek Pyrah did care and counting on, the dream team that is, for two things: One, put the Rotary club of Tagbilaran (RCT) out of business and let Collins create a new one from scratch, two, had the first fail as being too ambitious and hard to accomplish, pressure the DG Yumi Espina to rehabilitate former Rotarians Dave and Baby Collins and Deo Dioscoro and accommodate them to another club in the district. He worked out a clever plan implemented  as follows: 

He came to the event with his own "dream team" from Australia with PDG Bill Litle and a couple of others bringing with them, in addition to a camera a set of a band drums some rice and cans of sardines and some t-shirts. He opened shop inside the convention exposing the usual dramatic “pitsures” and PP presentations “where people can’t hold their tears “ etc. That’s all? No! he had in his suitcase two Paul Harris Fellow awards bought for Dave and Baby Collins (Remember, he was a Matching Grants trader and as such he had a big discount.) 

he was planning to use them as the most powerful weapon thinking that will bring such a confusion when used in the presence of Rotarians coming from about 90 clubs that all my work against the crooks will become obsolete and the RCT will be forced to take a more aggressive attitude against me “let’s kiss each other now and hell to this traitor Evan”

March 14th 2008 they charged the execution for the first step of the conspiracy to John Van-laar Past District Rotary Governor somewhere in Canada. He presented the PHF award bought by Pyrah to David Collins announcing him as a member of the RCT and to Baby Collins as a member of the Rotary club of …Cebu!.. in the presence of many members of the RCT on the DISCON event floor where the ceremony took place. 

 

But the truth is, none of the recipients was a member of the RCT, they deserted it in October of 2007 to avoid answering questions and stripped of their membership in January 2008 as you’ll soon have the opportunity to see the letter of termination. Even worst, how Baby Collins became a member of the Rotary club of Cebu without prior clearance and recommendation of her original club the RCT as required by the Rotary bylaws? They –Collins – say they didn’t know about their termination, didn’t they? Governor Espina didn’t know? If the governor doesn’t know who’s in who’s out in his district who does? Rotarians, trust me, they all knew, but it was in their agenda to pretend not to, in an attempt to ambush the RCT. And it worked. After the award ceremony the“ family photo” was 

taken as seen above with the capture published to the VAP web site. I took care immediately to dismantle their plans and lies by updating my web site and tell the world the truth here. But what I have told the world didn’t matter as much as where the RCT should go from here. A big challenge for inexperienced low profile Rotarians living in the third world recipients of Derek Pyrah’s rice and sardines facing a group of predators trained in subtle feathered manipulations and conspiracies in the first world.

Then, the gang put in place part 2 of the conspiracy plan. They brought both "dream teams" to Bohol to "see by themselves how the life on this island has changed thanks to those saviors sent by God to alleviate the misery...." What the poor would have endure without them!

 

 Reality is, this wasn't the reason that Pyrah and Collins brought them to Bohol but to demonstrate they were still the bosses deciding over life or death of the RCT sending them a message "submit or die" These high profile Rotarian people will not even say hello to you if you don't kiss their asses and comply with their orders consisting of reinstating the Collins plus - and most important - anathematize in a clear and strong way this traitor Evan ILIADIS who started this war against us. Indeed, they totaly ignored the RCT and even more the other club RCUT. They haven't visited any.

Once the smoke cleared and in the days that followed the attack the gang realized that no harm was done to the RCT as they anticipated. Desperate to capitalize on money and time spent firing bullets on the RCT Collins fired his last misile. Through his lawyer, he served a summon to the DG Yumi Espina asking him to delist the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran based on obscure, unfounded motives. Espina refuged the request, not for sympathy to the Club but for fear to the RI that is struggling to increase the membership and here comes a governor closing a club!... It was now clear to anyone the... evil team's demolition plan did not produce results, therefore going to rest or at least that's what every one thought.

Another glass of wine please!             

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