Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.
Hello and good day to all activists around the world fighting the crooks disguised as philanthropists and good doers, operating within clubs and associations. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.
What you're about to discover, is the story of a former Rotarian that had the guts to stand up and shed light on a subtle, clever scam that was taking place within a Rotary Club in the Philippines. Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.
We are year 2005 in the Provence of Bohol Philippines, a bit old and outdated story you might think; but the sophistication of the scheme, if not so unique as it appears, it wasn't an isolated case within the Rotary International. The actors of this scam had a few mentors initiated on the practice somewhere in the USA and Australia, then in turn passed their experience to local Rotarians in Cebu and Bohol.
Evan ILIADIS, a Rotarian member then of the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran alerted the Rotary Administration on Evanston Illinois to realize that the latest was more concerned
about saving the reputation of the club than reply to his accusations.
He then decided to bring the case to people's tribunal by first
publishing the story on the Club's own website:
rotarycluboftagbilaran.org van ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.
EHe published no less than 60 entries detailing the scam,
naming and shaming the unscrupulous crooks taking advantage of the
desperation of poor people in the rural areas of Bohol, giving them 10
cents of each dollar donated by generous Rotarians, and, most important
by the Rotary Foundation (TRF for short) numbering thousands of US Dollars
Then, years later he (Evan) shot down almost all blogs related to the Rotary, without giving to thousands of his readers a reason. I was one of them, also a contributor organizing mailing campaigns to subscribers around the world. I contacted him several times, all requests went unanswered, maybe he passed away? No! He's with us, well alive. Whatever the reason is, I, Gerald Tevenier decided to revive his blogs. I had not the necessary material, but the site "way back machine" had them. It is absolutely imperative that the world, generation after generation should know
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 former Rotarian EVAN
ILIADIS former member of the ROTARY CLUB OF TAGBILARAN (RCT
for short) in the island of Bohol Philippines where I lived
for 6 years forced to leave this country for medical reasons. From
day one after my induction on March of 2004 I made service to the
community a priority, a foul time none paid job serving
children elderly and mentally retarded with funds provided by
the VILLAGE AIDE PROGRAM (VAP for short) an organization based
in Australia owned by Rotarian Derek Pyrah and his former family -
former in the sense that he dumped them recently at the age of
62 and moved to the Philippines for the eyes of a 20 years
young Filipino girl- funds sent and managed by former Rotarian
and PP of the RCT Dave Collins.On august of 2007 I received the
PHF award my club unanimously agreed I deserve, the cost of
$1000 paid by the VAP, Thrilled? not at all!. I whish I had
receive it from the hands of the president of the RCT in
recognition for services rendered within the club and not- unknowingly-
contributing to VAP's crooked business.-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:
-5 Matching Grants (MG for short) approved and money wired by the TRF (The Rotary Foundation) to a MB (Metro Bank) account the custodians been David Collins and Deoscoro Uy manager of the local MB branch, past president of the RCT and treasurer. The MG I was referring to are:
- 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 that were never registered in the club's accounting report as read in the regular meeting by the treasurer Deo Uy but instead were deposited to an MB account that only Collins and him (Deo) were custodians and knew the ins and outs of the money in violation of RI bylaws that every single dollar must be deposited in a club controlled bank account.
-10 millions pesos
-Aprox. US$250,000.00 - received from the VILLAGE AIDE PROGRAM
based in Australia as Baby Collins claimed on this banner posted the
Club had no prior knowledge of any movement or a bank account
under their control with such figures as posted outside her pawn shop downtown Tagbilaran City.
- A detailed cost and bidding documents for all construction projects financed by the RI as required under the terms and conditions of the TRF including Water-less toilets water tanks and more, that instead was done by Dave Collins as a prime contractor employing his own workers in violation of the "conflict of interest" section as also described by the TRF bylaws.
-The RCT formed an investigative committee to handle the complain but the Collins when ordered to show up on scheduled appointments to explain the accusations did not comply, instead they deserted the club preferring the status of fugitives rather than try to defend the un-defendable, they knew my allegations were concrete solid ,fully backed with their own fingerprints on. At the same time, I notified the TRF about the fraud – the only word that perfectly fits – joining the necessary documentation to backup my allegations to the attention of Meredith Berliew and Collete Martin-Wilde, both Matching Grant supervisors - coordinators and Heather Fosburgh stewardship supervisor all 3 sitting in the RI headquarters in Evanston Illinois.
-At the time of my inquiry not
all money was invested in the projects intended, they (Collins
and Deo Uy were asked to provide a foul accounting of the
funds received and disclose where the unused money is. Baby
Collins replied that they returned to the TRF 4 million pesos.
(About 88 thousands US dollars) Not a single proof of it was given to
the investigators.
Meanwhile, the TRF ordered Catherine King , a senior
Matching Grant supervisor – coordinator for the SE Asia Rotary clubs to
investigate my allegations. She cleared the RCT of any wrong
doing indicating that the club can reapply for Matching Grants
if they wish but when asked to provide information about the
whereabouts of the 4 million pesos Collins claim they returned she
has never replied.
-From a couple of hundred mails I received I chose two examples of typical comments that reflects quite a few others. Both comments were written by American Rotarians. Does it make any difference? It sure does. Their pragmatism is very often not well perceived by the rest of the world, especially in the third world because of lack of sensitivity, understanding of other cultures, unless they spent time there. “Bill’s” comment below is a typical example. And “George” wants me to 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)
He claims here (And in several other documents in my possession) that the administrator's cost is only 2.3%. to pay for his travel expenses and accommodations from Australia to the Philippines 5 times a year, numerous guests from AU, RI officials, board members his ex wife for travel and accommodation expenses all paid by a 2.3% budget from an annual income of $100,00.00 as Derek Pyrah claims here? I’ll leave the answer up to the readers.
-The second mail came from a respected
long time Rotarian with a long and honorable record in the
org. Let's name him "George" He wrote:
“If it is about money, be
specific as to how the money actually flowed, and how it
should have flowed. You don't need much more than that”.
Request granted “George”. Even though I have described often of what I’m accusing them let’s do it one more time in simple words, straight to the point. I’am accusing them of the following:
- Of defrauding Individuals, Rotarians, Clubs and organizations in Australia and elsewhere in the world where the VAP leaders Derek Pyrah and Dave Collins mislead donors to contribute by misrepresenting their actions. An example of this accusation can be seen by clicking here.They instructed donors to deposit money not in a RCT Club controlled bank account but on one they (Collins and treasurer PP Deo Dioscoro) had absolute control, the club having total ignorance of the existence of such account. Remember, Deo Dioscoro is the manager of the MeTRO BANK where the accounts were held. This is just an example. If interested you can read more inside this blog
- Of defrauding TRF of thousands of dollars
by misrepresenting the use of the MG as follows: Dave
Collins did not disclose to the foundation that he was the
contractor-builder of all construction projects submitted for
financing, instead he claimed that it was a construction company
under the name of VALLES CONSTRUCTION in Tagbilaran Bohol
that was hired for the job. There isn't such company under
this name in the TRADES AND INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT database
in Bohol. Here is the document proving my allegation: Click here to see a mail sent to many with the report attached.
Evan ILIADIS - Diaries of a former Rotarian.
They are claiming: "Oh yes! We have receipts!" What receipts? They are all in the name of her Pharmacy, together of what she buys for her business and for the Rotary. Any one has seen anything? Please, raise your hand…-
-Once I filled a request with my club for opening an investigation as described above, the President formed an investigative committee to explore the allegations. They agreed with the Collins and PP Dioscoro on a number of meetings for discussion and were ordered to submit to the club the bank accounts “pass books” as they called in the Philippines the saving accounts booklets where all transactions are recorded. (I was wondering why they had not a checking account?). They refused, they disappeared, never attended investigation meetings neither regular meetings. "George, do you know any innocent behaving this way? If my allegations as submitted to the club AND to the RI were driven by malice due to a personal vendetta it would be easy for such powerful people to defeat them right on the start. Instead they felt comfortable under the fugitive’s blanket rather than take the time to explain."
-The RI and the DG have been informed about the facts long time ago . Their inaction to this matter resulted not only to a "let it go" but encouraged them - the accused- to further accented an already ill and predatory behavior towards the local Rotary community. The RI has read this story here before. Take a look and let me know if this is relevant to the RI or not.
Evan ILIADIS wrote this.
Rotary should cancel VAP founders' Derek Pytah and Dave Collins membership for unlawful and defamatory actions against another Rotary club. The RCUT. (Rotary Club of Upper Tagbilaran Bohol Philippines).
In Times when the District Governors are instructed by the Rotary to make the creation of new clubs and induction of new members their priority number 1, they were conspiring to derail the chartering of this club by spreading defamatory information about some of the members of the future club. They did it in the most unethical manner and means to discredit them, and they were close to succeed. They offered to sponsor them, in reality they were digging their grave. But thanks 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.
What was behind this plot? The answer is: Fear, hate and greed. Collins had many reasons to fear the creation of this club composed 100% by Filipinos, relatively of young smen and intellectuals. (As opposed to the RCT where 10 out of 25 members are foreigners.)
- Fear of Rotarians who left the Rotary Club of Tagbilaran (after he and Baby worked hard to conspire for their leave, resignation or termination ) was afraid would join the new club and start firing revenge bullets on them. Why they worked for their termination? It was the sentence of every member who asked questions about their activities.
-Fear of discovery of the VAP crooked activities on the island. There are experienced engineers among the members of the RCUT. Should their chartering goes through, there will be somehow an interaction between the two only clubs in town. “ Go tell them that a dry toilet as they see it cost 300,000 pesos or 7,000 AU dollars! They will laugh at your face.
-Fear that Derek Pyrah will be forced to a more equitable MG support as he was forced to do with certain clubs in Cebu. “Hey, if you tell your supporters in AU you’re in partnership with district 3860 in the Philippines you better deliver. There are other clubs in the district as well, including the RCUT. But it was out of the question Collins would collaborate with them. Collins paranoia hit the paroxysm when President Luella Bantol of the RCT not only kept inviting members, she was also visiting the RCUT.
Read the story as it was published at the local press. It tells it all.
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