WASHINGTON D.C. - The group of doctors who have urged Dr. Victor Lorica to resign as president of the Philippine Medical Association of Metropolitan Washington D.C. for violation of the association’s constitution said they are still waiting for a reply to the charges they have raised in the open letter they circulated July 24.

They said Dr. Lorica has up to now failed to respond to their call for a meeting so they could undertake impeachment proceedings against him for allegedly violating the PMAMWDC constitution, not submitting a full accounting of the New Year’s Eve ball, and not explaining why he opened a new PMA account at the Bank of America making himself the only signer in the account again in violation of the charter.

They reiterated that Dr. Lorica has also ignored the mandate of the board of directors three times to let the treasurer handle the finances of the organization as mandated by the PMA constitution.

Instead of responding to these claims, Dr. Lorica told the Manila Mail in an email last month that the charges against him were initiated by a group in the PMA who have kept sole possession of the association’s finances so “they could dictate policy for the entire organization without any independent oversight.”

He added he was merely reasserting “Presidential control over the PMA finances as mandated by our constitution,” a claim the oppositors said was false.

They also disputed Dr. Lorica’s claim that “the financial report is already in the possession of Dr. Stuart Goodman, the treasurer.”

The group of some 30 doctors, led by Drs. Rene Alvir, H. F. Nicodemus, Emma Dacquel, Reynaldo Lee-Llacer, and Cristeta Magpantay insisted that the president had made a mockery of the organization and its constitution during his term.

Among the issues they raised against Dr. Lorica are:

1. That he refused to turn over all records of the New Year’s Eve ball to the treasurer, Dr. Stewart Goodman.

2. That contrary to the constitution that there should be two signers in the PMA bank account, he opened a new bank account at the Bank of America making himself the only signer in the account.

 3. That among the cancelled checks submitted to the treasurer, there was a check for $2,800 written and signed by Arlene Lorica, the wife of the president, and another check for $5,000 with only Dr. Lorica’s signature in violation of the constitution.

 4. That Dr. Lorica, in violation of the charter, appointed Dr. Alex Fangonil as parliamentarian and his wife, Dr. Arlene Lorica as executive director who traditionally should be nonpartisan, knowledgeable of the PMA constitution and a past president.

Although Arlene had apologized for signing the $2,800 check, the doctors said “at this stage in their lives, aren’t they expected to know that what they have been doing is  inappropriate and completely unacceptable to the PMA and that there are consequences, even though they apologize?” They stressed that as president, Dr. Lorica “should be the first one to uphold and protect the constitution of the association that he is president of.”

While acknowledging that he did a good job for the Philippine Independence Day Committee, the doctors said “he did not put PMA on the map” because the “PMA is already there.”

In response to this claim, Dr. Lorica said that this group of doctors had tried very hard to undermine his leadership in the Philippine festival committee and the community’s celebration of the centennial last month. He termed this as a “public smear campaign against him.”

This is the first time in the more than 35-year history of the PMA that some members of the organization have risen up in arms against its president.

The signatories said the president failed to settle all the issues against him up to July 4, the deadline they set for him to respond.

They said that not only had Dr. Lorica ‘started to destroy the association, he has ruined relationships, too, as PMA members who have been friends for all those years have developed animosities towards each other and are now forced to take sides.”