The displaced golfers, claiming 2,008 members, from the group Mimosa Senior Golfers said they bought their membership for hundreds of thousands and even to over a million pesos way back when Mimosa was still under the management of Mondragon, through the resort’s being taken over by the state firm Clark Development Corp. (CDC).
The membership is only top of monthly dues that, over many years, had entitled them and members of their immediate family to play golf at the sprawling 36-hole Mimosa golf course.
Recently, however, the CDC awarded the management and operation of the Mimosa estate to Filinvest, in its bid to privatize the resort.
Golfer Harv Havison said the golfers have received notification from Filinvest informing them that from being members of the Mimosa golf club, they have been downgraded to merely having playing rights at the Mimosa golf course.
“This means Filinvest just totally disregarded the huge amount we paid as membership fee,” Havison said.
George Ward, another senior golfer, noted that he bought his membership for $7,000 in 2007 and also paid regularly the monthly fee then amounting to P2,500. He said Filinvest has increased the monthly fee to P4,000.
Ward said that the scrapping of the membership status of the golfers and reducing them to having mere rights to play golf has also disabled their capacity to sell their memberships.
“In the past, members who had paid huge membership fees could sell their membership to other people. Now, under Filinvest, the huge fees we paid for membership is just gone,” he lamented.
At the same time, Havison also lamented that Filinvest not only removed their membership status, but also banned immediate members of their families from playing golf for free. “They have to pay to be able to do this,” he added.
Tugade
Havison challenged former CDC president Arthur Tugade, who is now secretary of the Department of Transportation, to help them. “It was under him in the CDC that the award of Mimosa to Filinvest was done, so he should get us out of this problem,” he said.
He said Filinvest did not consult with the golfers on its new policies, but expressed hope that dialogue could still be resorted to.
He said the displaced golfers plan to hold a rally at the gate of Mimosa on Aug. 2 and 3 to press their demand for the recognition of their rights and privileges before the Filinvest takeover.
