The Papaya and Guava Incident and Other Matters

To: Dr. Rolando M.G. Gestuvo and Board of Trustee Members of the Christian Society
for the PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS and REHABILITATION OF THE BLIND,
INC.

October 24, 2009 morning I was at the school. ..preparing for the board of trustees
meeting.

I heard the children riding the swings and I noticed the eek…eeek…eeek of metal against
metal as the swings loaded with blind children went to and fro.

I asked Rene, the guard if he had been lubricating the bearings and the points of contact
of the swing. He told me that Francis does it and he sometimes helped. I asked him if
the grease I bought for the purpose had been consumed, and he said, they still have
grease.

I told Rene that the sound indicated metal rubbing against metal and I asked him to re-
lubricate the swings again.

Then I noticed at the back of the kitchen that four blind children were following
Boy Villarino who was holding something white. Upon closer look I saw that he was
holding papaya fruit that he had finished peeling. He was bringing it to the sink for
washing and slicing so the children could eat. Then Boy Villarino sliced it. I could see
that the fruit was unripe for only a very small portion at the tip was colored.

He was telling the boys to leave some of the papaya so the smaller children could
eat.

The children that morning did not have snacks since it was a Saturday.

When Myrna Timbal came around I asked her if the children had snacks on
Saturdays. “Not all the time,” she answered. “They just had their breakfast and they
have no appetite.”

Three years ago during a Chinese New Year I saw blind children climbing the
guava tree at the back of the kitchen looking, rather groping for guavas.

I wish other members of the Christian Society were around to see the actual
happenings in the school. As of October 23 weeds were sprouting, the mangosteens
planted in front of the school were being choked with weeds and were in the process of
dying.

I told Welmo when he came that I would like Boy Villarino to attend to the
mangosteen and the cinnamon tree planted in the ground. I asked Boy Villarino what

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was needed to revive the trees and he said fertilizer – complete fertilizer. I told him I will
buy the fertilizer needed when I go downtown.

This is what I saw at the school.

Now for other matters:

I strongly condemn the following:

1. Paying the salary of Dr. Gestuvo’s private secretary in his clinic doing work for
Dr. Gestuvo.
2. The following monthly expenses:
a. the P7,500 representation allowance for Dr. Gestuvo
b. the P4,500 representation allowance given to the Vice Chairman
c. the P4,500 representation allowance given to the Secretary-Treasurer

If these amounts need to be given, then they must be liquidated by

showing receipts for expenses directly related to the Prevention of Blindness and
Rehabilitation of the Blind.

I believe in the statement: Service Rendered, Service Paid. Can the

individuals receiving the amounts mentioned justify the Prevention of Blindness
and Rehabilitation of the Blind activities they have done monthly?

Getting part of the donations intended for the blind for themselves is a
highly anomalous practice.

While the blind children are scrounging around for food, hungry because
they have no snacks the Board of Trustees are helping themselves to the donations
that in the first place was not intended for them.

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 Why is the Christian Society stagnant and shrinking during the 30 years
term of Dr. Rolando Gestuvo? I will answer the question because I have gone
around to talk with those who are inactive and those who resigned.

• There are members who refuse to legitimize Dr. Gestuvo’s leech like
sucking anomalous practice of paying his private secretary with
donations
• There are members who do not like to join the blind receiving the
German donation. “I can give that myself,” one commented.
• The members Dr. Gestuvo recruited are those who are beholden to
him, but not to the organization. They are there during the general
assembly to perpetuate Gestuvo in power. Afterwards they are gone.
• There are members who derisively say – Dr. Gestuvo wants
to dip his fingers into donations for the blind, now he is
getting blind…karma…is getting to him.

I tried to do this quietly – with the SIR (Smoothe Interpersonal

Relationship) Asian culture. The entry into the PCNC , the letter asking why
Lucia Saligumba and Mr. Jose Babael were inadequate to meet the needs of the
CSPBRBI.
I introduced the concept of volunteerism….I told stories of my
experiences in the school with the hungry children. Apparently these had no
effect on the mind of Dr. Gestuo, a man who is bent on profiting from donations
for the blind.

For what else can you say of Dr. Rolando M.G. Gestuvo who gets his full
time private secretary working in his clinic paid with donations for the blind?
What else can you say of a man who allocates excess solicited funds for school
projects for his own and his cohorts benefit?

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