City execs clamp down on sham charity fund drives

By Ramon Dacawi 

BAGUIO CITY -- The profiteering days - and nights -  of organizers of fund-raisers  for their personal  profit but masquerading as humanitarian  and civic  projects will soon be over, at least here in Baguio.

Stung by the proliferation of fun-runs, concerts and other solicitation events labeled “for-a-cause” but turn out to be “for-a-cost” to line the pockets of the organizers, the city social welfare and development office is set to endorse to mayor Mauricio Domogan an executive order regulating any form of fund-raising here.

The executive order being drafted, according to city social welfare and development officer Betty Fangasan, is  in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 1564, also known as the Solicitation Permit Law and the Local Government Code giving local government executives the authority to issue permits for fund-raising activities.

The solicitation permit requirement is intended to distinguish and protect well-meaning fund-raising activities from profit-oriented concerts, fun-runs and other solicitations announced as intended for indigent patients or civic projects that remain anonymous or non-existent. 

Fangasan said all forms of solicitation, including those intended as support to victims of Typhoon Yolanda and other calamities, will have to be covered by a permit to be issued by the city mayor.

For caroling activities this yuletide, Fangasan said the permit is issued by the punong barangay of the community where the driver is to be conducted. If it covers more than one barangay, the city mayor issues the permit.

“The number of individuals, organizations and corporations in the city who seek donations and voluntary contributions have increased over the past years, thereby (necessitating their regulation) to obviate illegal fund drives and to protect the general public,” the draft of the executive order pointed out.   

Fangasan added that issuances of laws and administrative orders regarding solicitations sometimes create confusion and conflict at the regional and national level, prompting the need  for the city to issue guidelines.

Pending the issuance of the executive order, all individuals and groups who are into soliciting donations for Typhoon Yolanda victims will be enjoined to submit a detailed report on the cash and goods they have collected and the identities of the calamity victims or beneficiaries of these.

“We are also asking them to apply for permits through our office so that their project can be monitored and their legitimacy and reputation upheld and protected,” Fangasan said.

The permit requirement was agreed upon during a meeting with mayor Domogan and city councilor Peter Fianza, who was earlier designated as acting chair of the city relief operations for the typhoon victims.

The draft guidelines limit the administrative expense from the proceeds to 15 percent of the total gross income, with the remaining  85 percent to go to the project to be undertaken  by groups. In case the fund-raising activity is solely through voluntary contributions, the administrative expenses shall not be more than 10 percent of the total collection.

That provision, Fangasan stressed, protects the charitable or civic purpose of a fun-raiser, given complaints from would-be beneficiaries of concerts and fun-runs that they actually received nothing or only a pittance of the collections as the organizers had jacked up administrative expenses, sometimes to the point of declaring loss.

The draft also enjoins media outlets to air or publish only projects which are already covered by permits issued by the mayor and to ask the organizers to submit, also for publication or announcement, a detailed report on the collections and disbursements of the fund drive they undertook.  The report will include donors and their corresponding contributions, together with the identities and personal circumstances of the beneficiaries and the contributions they received.

Some previous fun-runs and concerts were announced for the benefit of patients when these re launched but nothing was heard from the organizers on how much was collected and  how much and to whom the proceeds were distributed  after the race or the show.

The mayor’s permit, Fangasan said, may also be the basis for police officers and volunteer communication and support groups to respond to requests for them to assist in the conduct of legitimate fund-drives-for-a-cause.

Meanwhile, a staff member of the city mayor’s office also clarified that mayor Domogan has not issued any permit for any solicitation activity pending the issuance of the guidelines.

Ryan Mangusan, the mayor’s personal secretary, announced this in the wake of reports reaching the office that some solicitors are out seeking contributions using fake permits.