THE FILIPINO Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (FILSCAP) is smarting from allegations made by their vice president, Heber Bartolome, that P8.5 million in their funds were disbursed without authority of their board of trustees. Their board chairman, Nonoy Tan, denies this. "Heber resents the board's suspending him for one year due to actions harmful to FILSCAP," he says. "In 1984, he signed a deed assigning all his works to Filscap. Last year, he wants us to run after Galaxie Records, sister company of EMI, because his song 'Ayoko na Kay Sta. Claus' was used by Papa Dom in an album. We filed a case against Galaxie, without knowing that in 2007, he signed a publishing contract with EMI Records for P2 million for his entire catalogue of songs. They filed a P5 million countersuit against us and showed us the contract he signed with them. So we said, Heber, ano ba itong pinasok mo? Ipinahamak mo ang FILSCAP. He said sorry, pasensiya, matanda na ko, nakalimutan ko na. Our bylaws state that such acts should be sanctioned so the board members voted on it at, 12-0, suspending him. What did he do? He called a meeting in his house, asking our members to join him in a new guild called Musika. Pinapirma niya ng attendance those who came, then later he attached this to a manifesto denouncing FILSCAP. Those who signed later on recanted because they were deceived. They didn't know he'll use them for that.
It's true that there's P8.4 million in questionable disbursements made by our former licensing manager, Jane Suarez, but that is now under investigation. He's part of the execuitve committee and he knows we don't hide anything. But he wants to make us look bad. Ibinulsa daw naming mga opisyal ang pera. Kaya naha-highblood ako kasi ginawa niyang personal ang paninira sa amin. Tinitira na ang integrity namin and we won't allow people to twist facts to make themselves look good. Pinaghirapan naman for FILSCAP to earn respect in the international music community, tapos sisirain lang ng isang tao. Well, if we have to go through this painful process to purge the undesirables, let it be. But we already got a lawyer and we're suing him in court for various charges."
