BIZ BUZZ: Wack Wack cries foul

Wack Wack Golf and Country Club has taken “strong exception” to an earlier Biz Buzz item that it said cast the club, founded in 1930 by American philanthropist and democracy advocate William “Bill” Shaw, “in an unfavorable light,” thus “demeaning to the Club’s reputation.”

It may be recalled that last Monday, we wrote about the unexpected resignation from the Wack Wack Board of widely respected executive Celso Vivas.

Vivas detailed in his Sept. 1, 2025 farewell message to fellow Wack Wack members—a copy of which was seen by Biz Buzz—his misgivings over the “traditional governance” system that has led to some questionable decisions, from the proposal to have a three-year term for board directors to the P200-million sports center project and issuance of ancillary membership certificates.

But in a letter to the Inquirer, Richard Brett Uy, legal counsel of Wack Wack, that lists longtime politician Benjamin S. Abalos Sr. as president, brushed aside any claims of impropriety on these matters discussed by Vivas in great detail in his letter, which included concerns raised by his fellow members.

Uy said that these items “had been properly deliberated upon, decisions arrived at by the appropriate organs of the Club and implemented in strict accord with the Articles of Incorporation and By-laws of the Club.”

“As the article suggests otherwise, it unfairly paints the Club as insensitive to the precepts of Good Corporate Governance espoused by our laws and the government regulatory agencies administering such laws,” Uy said.

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“For years, the Club has been recognized not only as one of the leading private clubs in the country but also as a law-abiding model corporate citizen”, he added, thus Wack Wack believes that the earlier Biz Buzz item—that incidentally simply shared what Vivas had raised as a member of the board—was “an affront” that it “cannot leave uncontested.”

Clearly, we have a case of he said, they said. Now who should we believe? Perhaps we should ask members themselves for enlightenment.