Open Meeting with Neph Mañez, NPUC president and AUP board chair

 Open Meeting with Neph Mañez, NPUC president and AUP board chair, in Charles David’s residence at 1531 Bellevue Rd , Redlands , CA– 2 October 2011 at 5 pm

Present:  Nepthali S. Mañez, Joselito Coo [recording secretary], Charles David, Alberto Bagingito [AWESNA president], Hedrick Edwards, Lydia T. Roda, Loida Miguel, Cora A. Coo, Alfonso Miguel, Jr., Li Cerdenio, Beth Cerdenio, Ben Cuizon, Roy Mananquil, Linda Mananquil, Eduardo Gonzaga, Jr., Myrna N. Dial

Prayer:  Hedrick Edwards

Opening remarks:  Nepthali S. Mañez welcomed the opportunity of meeting with a representative group of alumni and non-alumni on short notice and stressed the dawn of a new era in his administration of the North Philippine Union Conference that will not allow wrongdoing under his watch.

Concern 1:  Communication gap.  Specific questions from alumni with regard to the school are rarely answered by the people who can supply the info with a straightforward, relevant reply. Queries sent via e-mail or letters sent by regular post, if they were received at all, are rarely if ever acknowledged by recipient administrators.  Case in point, receipt of e-mail sent by Dr Witzel to the board chair, board secretary and the president has yet to be acknowledged.  Have they received it or not?  Another case in point:  Reply to an AWESNA Position Paper was sent by regular mail to the board chair, board secretary and the president.  Reception of the said letter was acknowledged only verbally but not officially in print by the university president who reasons it’s not for him to respond since it was addressed to the board chair.  Though the board chair was appraised of the AWESNA Position Paper by no less than the SSD president, the board chair will not comment because he claims he has not seen the letter re: AWESNA Position Paper that was specifically addressed to him.

Recommendation 1:  The need for structured communication [voiced by Myrna  Dial] should be put in place so that 1) the person in charge of the dept or office is enabled and empowered to respond and supply the requested information; 2) questions may be directed to a designated official spokesperson for the president or administration (such as a press secretary or the PR dept); 3) re-orientation, re-education, cultural sensitivity training on the side of the administration, faculty and staff, on the one hand, and alumni, on the other hand shall be conducted accordingly and respectively.

Note:  Presently, it’s assumed that Beth Casel, director of Philanthropy, fulfills the role of official spokesperson for the administration as she has been appointed recently, in addition to her current designation in the office of Philanthropy, as PR and alumni affairs director as well, taking the place of Romeo Barrios who has been reassigned to teaching.  Assisting Beth Casel in the office Philanthropy, PR and Alumni Affairs is Arlene M. Gayoba.

Further recommended to provide the AUP board chair another hard copy of the AWESNA Position Paper so he could respond to it by letter addressed to the AWESNA officers.

Concern 2:  Updates regarding the College of Medicine

a)      Temporary building, Plan B, for the COM and the Medical Technology Dept, downsized from an original Plan A, but one that costs nearly 3 times more per square meter.  Plan A: 8,933 sq.m. for PhP150 mil [PhP 16,791.67 per sq.m]

Plan B: 1,532 sq.m. for PhP70 mil. [PhP 45,691.00 per sq.m.] consists of several rooms at USD 1,659,573.00 [roughly USD 1,083.27 per sq.m.]

b)      With a hundred and thirty-five (135k) U.S. dollars on hand, received from pledges to date, which is far from the goal of seventy (70) million pesos in order to complete the project, besides being justified by faith for our salvation, is there sufficient reason to proceed with the construction of a temporary COM/Med Tech building?

One side note:  How about the College of Theology building that is. literally on inspection, just a “shell” and far from completed?  Does the school have a policy with regard to cash on hand – percent of the total cost – to begin construction on a new project (the COM) while there’s one (the COT) that has yet to be funded in order to finish it?

Another side note, with regard to the voided JVA or Joint Venture Agreement, per board action and in view of the threat of a lawsuit by Dr Meneses, the NPUC has retained the Angara [Accra] law office.  Still further, a formal business proposal by Mr Eping Ao to build for the university a COM and hospital of 5,000 sq meter floor space in exchange for six (6) hectares of AUP property is still  under consideration by a committee that has been appointed.

c)  Search for a dean and selection of faculty when there’s still no College of Medicine building. The university administration has reportedly unofficially sent feelers to a possible candidate, one with experience of having served as a dean of a state or government-run school of medicine and who plans to retire from government service.

Recommendation/s 2 re:  Updates on COM

1) Prior to starting construction and while expecting a miracle to happen, regardless of the availability of funds or lack of the same, that the people responsible for the project – the board in particular - should take another look  at the disparity of the construction cost in regard to Plan B, compared to Plan A.  A side question:  Are other contractors, SDAs in particular who have not been retained (i.e. outside the NPUC development committee), allowed or encouraged to bid?

2)      Appoint a development consultant from the alumni (Romelda Jereos Anderson was suggested in particular) as an addition to the NPUC development committee with the specific function of providing guidance with regard to the COM project.

3)      Consider an organizational re-structuring to enable the COM to have an internationally representative governance policy.  First, this may require forming a managing board specific for the College of Medicine and Training Hospital, per CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) with regard to one corporate body for the two units, that is inclusive of representatives coming from all three Philippine union conferences and other union conferences of the SSD that may have a vested interest in sending students from their region. Second, to open up the selection of a qualified dean and faculty to non-Philippine citizens, calls for whom may be coursed through the General Conference.

4)      In the interest of improved communication with university officials, at the same time that a restructuring is under consideration and a search for a dean is still in the works, Joselito Coo submitted the names of Drs  Alfonso Miguel, Jr. and Everet Witzel to be designated as official spokespersons , respectively, on behalf of AWESNA alumni and non-AWESNA members, non-alumni supporters of the COM project.   On a side note:   Dr Witzel’s ties with Dr Jeimylo de Castro casts some doubt in the opinion of at least one of those present in the open meeting regarding the wisdom of appointing Dr Witzel to such an important mission.  Nevertheless, Joselito Coo reiterated his recommendation to designate Dr Witzel on behalf of non-AWESNA, non-alumni supporters of the COM and further suggested that a letter of appreciation be sent to Dr Witzel for his untiring efforts, official and unofficial from way back, on behalf of establishing a medical school in the Philippines.  In light of the fact this particular recommendation, as well as other recommendations, wasn't formally voted on by those present, it’s presumed that each named individual who submitted a recommendation to Pastor Neph bears personal responsibility for the same

Adjourned:  8 p.m.

Prayer:  Charles David