Prayers answered? Tatay Avendano will not retire until he is dead and his ‘enemies’ were not able to ‘bury him alive’ as yesterday’s election proved.(Photo: Angelo Siglos, Metrovan Independent News)
Vancouver, B.C.
Updated: July 29, 2018, 8:08 PM
High noon at MHHS, ‘Tatay’ survives challenge
By Ted Alcuitas
“Hindi ninyo ako maililibing ng buhay”! (translation: You can’t bury me alive!)- Metrovan Independent News.
“On retiring, Tatay Tom said “I will retire when I am dead but I cannot retire while I am still breathing. This (MHHS) is my twin, which I cannot live without.” – Philippine Canadian Inquirer
Tom ‘Tatay’ Avendano was reelected with a landslide in a “tumultuous and chaotic” election yesterday (July 28) at the Multicultural Helping House Society (MHHS).
Avendano will again be at the helm of the organization despite a concentrated attack to unseat him by an anonymous group styling themselves as the Concerned Friends of the MHHS.
https://concernedfriendsof.wixsite.com/website
“Garapal talaga. It was like a circus,” says Mike Cayetano in a three-way telephone interview with Rey Fortaleza and Ching Colobong following the election.
The three unsuccessful candidates were unanimous in condemning the election process as “chaotic”. They questioned the “spurious list of voters” and insisted that Tom Avendano should not have been in it as his membership had expired.
They categorically denied that they formed the group, Concerned Friends of MHHS.
“Maganda,landslide ako,” Avendano told philippine canadian news.com (PCN.com) when reached by phone after the close of voting.
“Mababa sila,” he told PCN.com about the opposition’s votes and abruptly hanged up.
“Human na ang election. Samuk kaayo. Murag tindahan. Nag ihap na sila, pero nalakaw na ko. No use. I don’t really care about the results. I’m leaving anyway,” Limbay Deza-Lau messaged PCN.com before leaving the venue.
“I don’t know. I didn’t wait for the results. Yes, I’m quitting MHHS regardless of the results. I have decided that before the election. Cholo wanted me to stay. He said wait after the election….”
Lau, Cayetano and Colobong are long time members and have been with MHHS since its inception.
Cayetano, a former vice president and acting CEO told PCN.com he wants a break from the organization. The accountant said he had been instrumental in negotiating most of the projects that MHHS obtained including the pre-departure funding in the Philippines.
“It was not Tatay Tom that did the work. It was me and I had spent $50,000 of my own money doing ‘volunteer’ work for MHHS,” he says echoing what Limbay Deza-Lau said in a previous interview.
“It’s time for me to take a break,” he added.