Wack Wack Golf Club Suspends Mar Roxas for 2 Months Over April 6 'Meltdown'

Image courtesy of www.interaksyon.com

Source: www.interaksyon.com

The board of the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club has voted to suspend for two months Interior Secretary Mar Roxas over the April 6 incident where he was accused of giving Club employees a tongue-lashing over green fees he supposedly did not want to pay.

The board met last Tuesday to deliberate on the report of the club's membership committee, which earlier investigated the matter after it was mentioned in a newspaper column of broadcast journalist Arnold Clavio.

The membership committee’s report is only recommendatory, and under usual practice, the Board either sets it aside, upholds it entirely or affirms it with some modification. In the Roxas case, four of the eight board members present (one was absent) voted to impose the two-month suspension; one voted for a mere reprimand; and three abstained.

The Club is set to issue an official announcement of the decision by Friday, said InterAksyon.com sources.

The decision to suspend Roxas was, according to sources, based largely on precedents "where the circumstances were very similar" and thus the same penalty was imposed.

The incident report received earlier by the club’s membership committee showed that at around noon of April 6, Roxas went to the club registration office and got upset when an employee asked him to pay a P5,100 green fee for a guest he invited for a lesson with golf pro Rey Pagunsan.

Roxas allegedly lost his cool and started shouting at the employees, and berated them with cuss words.

When another employee suggested they call the club’s manager and not the president so someone could explain the rules to Roxas, the DILG chief allegedly shouted back: “T--------------ina!. Walang presi-presidente sa akin!” “Walang bawal bawal sa akin.”

The Club’s president is Philip Ella Juico, the husband of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Chairman Margie Juico.

While teeing off, the report said, another employee approached Roxas and asked for the green fee receipts, but he allegedly shouted again.

Roxas denied the accusation and said there was a miscommunication on the new policy imposed by the Club. He insisted he never berated nor cussed anyone at the time.