On Tuesday, members of the posh Manila Polo Club voted resoundingly to reject a controversial proposal that would have allowed associate members to “de-link” their membership from their main proprietary shares at a fraction of the cost of the latter.
The debate had been raging for several weeks on Viber and WhatsApp groups of the well-heeled Makati City crowd, with some favoring the proposal to allow the decoupling of associate members’ rights for “a mere P2 million” (and thus continue enjoying the club’s facilities and services) even if the owner of the parent share sells his said share to another party.
In effect, this would have given associate members near-equal status to full-time members at a price that’s well below the estimated P58 million that a polo club share costs nowadays.
But on Tuesday, there was little evidence in person of the open hostility on digital platforms. In fact, one member who was at the annual general meeting described the situation as “mellow” with “no drama” being displayed by the outspoken supporters and critics of the plan.
When the proposal came up, discussion quickly turned to how to prevent future attempts at diluting the value of the precious club shares.
Landslide
When the votes were counted, 1,077 members voted to oppose the de-linking proposal, with only 45 voting for it. Another 27 members abstained, presumably not wanting to upset members of their immediate family who were benefiting from associate status and not wanting to draw the ire of their fellow member friends.
Meanwhile, four directors of the club were no shows during the annual meeting, including one who earlier claimed to hold 200 proxy votes from other members supporting the de-linking proposal.
The final numbers showed that an overwhelming 94 percent of the polo club’s members opposed the proposal with only 3 percent in favor of it.
Does this mean the controversies between the club’s board and its members have all been settled? For now, at least.
But we hear from an insider that there’s another board proposal that’s raising eyebrows among wealthy members. Apparently, many aren’t keen on shelling out more funds for a project that might just end up as a proverbial white elephant.
Stay tuned.
Senior Reporter
