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MFPI INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP
Recent amendments to the Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws of the Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines have granted individual memberships and empowered individual members through the grant of individual voting power. The IMC wishes to express its position on the matter.
Considering the very rationale behind the creation of the Federation, the grants of individual membership and individual voting rights appear to be anathema to the Federation and might adversely affect the future of its member clubs. While the IMC is not against individual membership per se, it is increasingly disturbed by the overextension of privileges to individual members.
When the Federation was established a quarter of a century ago, the idea was to create a corporate body to bring together the various mountaineering clubs in the country under one unifying organization so that the advancement of mountaineering as a sport may be organized along rational and achievable lines. That the intent was to confederate clubs � not individuals � is shown by the fact that the incorporators of the Federation were composed of representatives of the various clubs then existing. And for a long period of time the clubs steered the Federation though singular voting: one club, one vote.
The Federation, by its existence, also strengthened mountaineering clubs by encouraging individuals to join its member clubs and, consequently, enable themselves to participate in Federation activities sanctioned by the Federation. Mountaineering, its ethics, restrictions, and other rules ensuring that the sport is practiced the proper way, were duly enforced by making the clubs represent the individuals in all activities of the Federation and by imposing the rule that only a member club could sponsor the entry of another club into the Federation. Having reputations to protect, member clubs sponsored the entry into the Federation only of clubs which they knew would be members of good standing.
Never intended to have a snobbish effect, this form of exclusivity was adopted to make sure that all club members were worthy of their membership and could enforce Federation policies. Hence, even from an administrative perspective, any wayward individual mountaineer was easily brought back in line by his own club. With the Federation unburdened by these concerns, it was left to focus on more important matters.
With this set-up, the Federation strengthened the clubs on the macro-organizational level by giving support to the activities of the local clubs on the national level through the following:
1. Facilitation and support to the local clubs in search-and-rescue operations by officially requesting help from the military (e.g., airlifts by helicopters) and other government agencies. An individual would not have the standing to be able to maintain good rapport with government agencies even if the Federation were to back him up, because an individual has no sufficient manpower and does not represent a group, something which local agencies always consider.
2. Support to the clubs in terms of contracts with local governments (e.g., reforestation, monitoring, etc.). Any individual would meet many obstacles in getting a contract with local government agencies (LGUs), for the same reasons.
3. Strengthening the clubs by their endorsements to the national and local governments by giving seminars, lectures, workshops, and other activities.
In this ideal arrangement, the clubs, in turn, supported the Federation on the micro-organizational level within their respective areas. For instance, it is a reality that some clubs are more known in their regions than the Federation, for simple reasons of proximity. The clubs have been carrying the Federation for the past twenty-five years, some with little or no support from it. And in certain parts of the country, the LGU's have been the ones who have given material and financial support to the clubs. In return, clubs would oblige their LGU's requests for assistance in emergencies requiring mountaineering know-how, equipment, and rescue skills.
A case in point was the search-and-rescue work on the Cebu Pacific plane crash at Cagayan de Oro. IMC, PALMC, DOME, CAMP, CEMS, and other mountaineering clubs were given a national plaque of commendation by the Office of the President for their rescue efforts. While the Federation was not a recipient, it could take pride in the fact that its member clubs received the commendation.
In that rescue operation, individuals and other loose groups were not allowed by the military and the Provincial Disaster Control Coordinating Committee to ascend the mountain and do rescue work. Only the military, the Red Cross, and the mountaineering clubs were allowed to proceed. The mountaineers belonging the clubs were even given priority in helicopter airlifts, the rest of the rescuers being made to travel to the crash site on foot. There was no way an individual mountaineer could have presented himself to participate in the rescue.
However, with the recent amendments to the Federation's Articles and By-Laws, all this is about to change, if they haven't already. Not only the clubs, but the Federation itself, stands to be adversely affected.
Thus, an individual is now given equal standing as a club in terms of voting power. This in itself is quite a conceptual anomaly since in terms of governing the Federation, an individual is now just as powerful as a club, with no apparent convincing rationale. While financial reasons have been cited to justify the amendments, it could have been solved by simply increasing the dues of existing members and other innovative measures, such as fund raising, sponsoring "survival challenge", "games", etc. without having to resort to such drastic means. Of course, the Federation has lost, or is losing, whatever prestige the clubs have built for it over the past quarter century. It stands to become nothing more than a nationwide-based mammoth of a club, with a membership that has so much promise of being unwieldy.
Further, the more individuals swamp the Federation's membership, the more it will be exposed to being exploited for political and other questionable purposes, something which is better avoided through club memberships, with the clubs acting as a stop-gap � a sieve, if you will � at the early stage of inception of political influence-peddling. The Federation is no stranger to this possibility, and it should be shielded from all kinds of political influences.
While the IMC admits that it might be hard to reverse the process for it neither has the number nor the means to get them, the Board could (if it has the willpower) still be able to "reverse" the amendments. In the meantime, the IMC would like to at least propose some improvements.
The following are therefore proposed, without prejudice to more proposals in the future:
1. A weighted vote for clubs over that of an individual may be adopted. For example, a club vote could be given more points, while an individual's votes will be counted as one vote only. The individual should be physically present (no proxy vote) to cast his vote.
1.1 Alternatively, an individual may also be taken in as honorary members or "preferred" members or whatever name they are called, with certain rights and privileges but with no voting rights and no right to be voted for as a trustee or officer of the Federation.
2. Non-club members will not be allowed to bid for the hosting of the annual Federation congress and climb. The reason is simple: What happens if an individual, or even a group of individuals without any club affiliations, win a bid to host the Federation congress?
Usually, the winning bidder has one year to solicit sponsors and make all the arrangements such as those for transportation, camping grounds, exploratory and trail clearing work, among others. Clubs are better equipped and have more standing to do this. What if, upon the arrival of the delegates from all over the country, the individual simply does not show up? Who will be responsible for the scandal? Is this just a far-fetched possibility? Worse and more absurd things have happened in this country. Nightmares like this should be avoided at all costs!!.
3. A rule giving an individual member a period within which to affiliate with a club member. This way, his individual membership is limited to a certain period, and the strength of the clubs are preserved.
4. The creation of an Oversight Committee with oversight functions over matters relating to individual memberships. This is intended to free the Federation's officers from bothersome details concerning individual memberships.
5. Creation of a Council of Elders with advisory functions. This is intended to ensure that major decisions of the Federation are referred for consultation with members who have either the experience or expertise to give advice on the consulted matter. Some clubs have adopted this practice as a matter of course, even without any formal rule, to make sure that their (club) major decisions are sound.
The IMC, as a charter club member of the Federation, is therefore concerned about how it will face the next twenty-five years. When it signed onto the instruments creating the Federation, the IMC had hoped to see it flourish as a Club of Clubs � a true federation indeed, carried by the prestige of its club members.
The IMC would not like to see the Federation weakened. With the present amendments and with the clubs weakened, it is foreseeable that many of the clubs in the Visayas and Mindanao regions or even in Luzon (composing around seventy (70%) of the Federation's membership) might just opt to put up regional federations. In this ugly scenario, while most clubs might still maintain their membership in the MFPI, they are not likely to be very active. They will just pay the dues and "sleep" through their membership. Their activities will be directed towards their regional memberships. This situation must also be avoided.
Having expressed its position through this paper, the IMC hopes that more serious thought is put into extending too many rights and privileges to individual members. Hard work has gone into bringing the Federation to where it now is. IMC's proposals are intended to foreclose the possibility that the Federation might be debilitated, or worse, broken up. These are potential problems that must be addressed quickly if the Federation is to be preserved for the new century.
Iloilo City, (sgd.) JULIUS B. DURANA
25 June 2004. Iloilo Mountaineering Club, Inc.
-oOo- President