TABLES TURNED
Phi House Foundation founder unauthorized to manage the dormitory — MOA, IRR say
by Jermaine Angelo Abcede, James Sablay
Phi House Foundation Inc. (PHFI) president and founder Emmanuel Lat has managed the dormitory since its inception in 2016, yet strangely, irregularities in its operations have only recently come to light. Whether this was a deliberate choice or due to an unforgivable lapse from the Oversight Committee (OC), the sole deciding body of the dormitory’s operations, there comes out as an incontestable truth — there was deceit for eight years. The number one victim? The Phi House tenants.
To the tenants’ surprise, the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) ordered the eviction of the Phi House’s property manager, landlady, and peace and security officer on Jan. 17. With UP Manila Chancellor Michael Tee instructing the eviction to the UP Manila Police, anxiety and fear struck tenants as this was the first time UPM police entered the premises of the dormitory.
However, tenants were not made aware that this eviction was not a baseless directive. In the final demand notice dated April 13, 2023, from the UP System Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs, they demand Lat and personnel under his instruction to immediately vacate the dormitory’s premises, freeze rent collections, deposit them to the UPM Cash Office, and submit a final accounting of all monies collected since 2015. This decision is in compliance with the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) in Audit Observation Memorandum №2023–007 dated Feb. 1, 2023, showing recurring irregularities in how Emmanuel Lat managed the dormitory.
COA found that the dormitory did not comply with the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), which resulted in unaccounted rental fees. COA advised the UPM administration to take over the accounting of the dormitory’s fees, initiate legal actions against the property manager, and require the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) to take over the tenant applications.
This audit observation revealed that there had been discrepancies in the admission of tenants, channels where payments should be made, and monthly rent of tenants according to their socioeconomic status and geographic location as stipulated in the IRR that was signed between UP Manila and Phi formations.
System’s Irregularities
Based on the IRR, the application of tenants should be processed by the Auxiliary Services Program of OSA. It will then forward the applications to the UP Manila Committee on Student Affairs (UPMCSA), which will evaluate applicants’ Socialized Tuition System (STS) bracket (55%) and Place of Permanent Residence (45%). Although this IRR should take effect, applications in the dormitory have been solely handled by PHFI.
Currently, all Phi House tenants adhere to Lat’s directive to pay P5,000 for rent to sustain the dormitory’s operations. However, as the IRR mandates, rental fees should be determined based on the applicants’ STS bracket. Tenants under the No Discount (ND) bracket are advised to pay P5,000, while those under the Partial Discount (PD) 33 bracket are advised to pay P3,000. The PD50 bracket is set at P2,500, PD80 at P2,000, and those falling under the Full Discount (FD) bracket are recommended to pay P1,500.
The rental fees, all paid in full, are deposited to the PHFI bank account, which should have been made to the Cash Office according to the IRR and UP Manila memorandum issuances.
Contrary to the adjacent UP Manila Dormitory, Phi House has been known for its leniency to its tenants, including the absence of a curfew, and tenants are permitted to cook and even eat inside the rooms. However, Section III of the IRR states that cooking is prohibited and appliance use should be regulated.
The issue highlights that there are also lapses in how OC supervises the dormitory’s operations. Based on the MOA, OC was supposed to appoint a property manager, yet Lat single-handedly hired all property managers under his watch. If they knew Lat was already violating the MOA, a rectification from them should have been made.
At worst, the tenants have not been informed of any documents agreed upon by both parties since the fiasco was first publicized. Whether there was fraternity-sorority politics involved or this was due to the neglect of duty of the people in charge, one thing’s for sure: both parties failed to be transparent with the tenants.
The Cost Tenants Have to Pay
As of writing, the Phi House staff members remain evicted from what used to be their home. In 2023, OSA staff Elena Venturina, under the instruction of Chancellor Michael Tee, offered to make them employees of UP Manila, but they declined. As they are bound by Phi’s contract, they would not, of course, make any move that could terminate it.
Among all the people involved in this dispute, it is the tenants who are at the receiving end of both parties’ faults. This has led some tenants to move out of the dormitory, even if their contract with Phi will be terminated and their security deposit is at risk of being forfeited.
UPM is now trying to set things right. It has already rolled out an investigation to retrieve the payments from PHFI and has assigned the registration of tenants to OSA until Jan. 31. However, what wrongfully transpired between those eight long years is something a patch cannot just cover.
