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Anonymous
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PM's send and issue resolved. Guys, if you have a problem with what someone else posts, please pm a mod or admin instead of fighting in public.
First Martha Stewart Inc., now MAC?
- Thread starter reformmac
- Start date
A
Anonymous
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I am locking this because there has been no evidence to support the claims about MAC.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Post reopened because of further evidence that should be brought up shortly.
clarionreef
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- San Francisco
Still shooting the messengers .
The truth is, there shouldn't be so much to reveal and uncover on a "reform minded environmental group."
Steve
.The truth is, there shouldn't be so much to reveal and uncover on a "reform minded environmental group."
Steve
reformmac wrote:
"Can anybody give any information regarding the criminal charges that have brought against several MAC/Reef Check staffers including senior management?
Is this a result of the most recent USAID report?
Just curious......."
Well after reading the affidavit posted in the other thread I think the answer to the above question would have to be no. But somehow I think reformmac knew the answer when he posted the question. :?
Mitch
"Can anybody give any information regarding the criminal charges that have brought against several MAC/Reef Check staffers including senior management?
Is this a result of the most recent USAID report?
Just curious......."
Well after reading the affidavit posted in the other thread I think the answer to the above question would have to be no. But somehow I think reformmac knew the answer when he posted the question. :?
Mitch
I am not taking sides here but just really interested.
Why are you so anti MAC?
arent they trying to do a good thing?
It sounds like they are really trying to clean up what is going on in the south pacific, which is really a good thing considering how the collecting is done there.
I looked into being MAC cert. as a collector but there is just too much paperwork and fees, I don't think MAC is needed here in Hawaii.
On a side note. I looked at the charges, and it looks like it is just an internal squabble between a boss and a worker. does that even have anything to do with the aquarium trade?
Why are you so anti MAC?
arent they trying to do a good thing?
It sounds like they are really trying to clean up what is going on in the south pacific, which is really a good thing considering how the collecting is done there.
I looked into being MAC cert. as a collector but there is just too much paperwork and fees, I don't think MAC is needed here in Hawaii.
On a side note. I looked at the charges, and it looks like it is just an internal squabble between a boss and a worker. does that even have anything to do with the aquarium trade?
clarionreef
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- San Francisco
What are you talking about Steve? What messenger was shot?
_________________
The plaintif, and ex-employee...Cyrus Macasera.
Steve
_________________
The plaintif, and ex-employee...Cyrus Macasera.
Steve
Mitch, you are correct. The complaint is not associated with the USAID report. Mark Schreffler made a post in the following thread http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=83879&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20.
Mark's post was:
"All,
This is a letter from my good friend Cyrus whom I worked with in the Philippines. He is president of a national youth group called Save ME (ME = Mother Earth). He began with MAC as a volunteer and worked circles around some of the paid staff whom often made more than 10 or 15 times his menial salary.... He is a great man and I hope to work with him very soon. He was recently fired from MAC for trying make some positive changes for his country. Here is his response:
Dear Mr. Holthus,
This is to officially respond to your letter asking me to explain my involvement in an alleged effort to undermine the Marine Aquarium Council.
I am severely disappointed and outraged at the violation of my privacy. It is apparent that over the last how many days my personal email account has been invaded and my personal files copied or taken without my approval; such virtual burglary apparently producing document/s that are now being used to implicate me. Violation of my privacy by itself is reprehensible, but using the fruits of such wrongful deed to further prejudice me is brazen disregard for justice and fairness.
I have served the Marine Aquarium Council with commitment and loyalty. I saw it a great opportunity to elevate my personal advocacy to higher levels of relevance and impact. The same commitment and dedication I gave to my movement the Save Mother Earth Movement Philippines, I gave to MAC. I admit that my commitment and dedication to the programs of MAC gave me fulfillment and an opportunity to challenge myself, but this same dedication made me see the ills of MAC as an organization. I have seen the trainers in the different places risk and sacrifice their lives to the extent of leaving their beloved family yet they are not given an equitable income and benefits. The broken promises made to my fellow Filipinos in Tawi-Tawi, Cagayancillo, Bohol, and Northern Palawan, by the leadership of MAC, are taken lightly; as if these poor Filipinos are just kids that can be cajoled with empty promises then left alone to cry. Well, maybe promises are just promises, but not when the integrity of the advocacy of MAC is put into serious doubt due to mismanagement and insensitivity to the plight of the Filipinos and the government institutions working hand in hand with MAC’s management. Not when supposedly concerned International NGO’s make money out of the misery of the third world and its poor people such as ours.
These realizations and the feeling of betrayal have been building up within me. But I have given the organization the benefit of my doubts. I wanted to believe the organization can improve itself from within, but when my supervisor Mark Schreffler was dismissed I knew something had to be done. Mark was one of the very few members of the MAMTI office who was truly passionate about the plight of the Filipino aquarium fishers and exporters, and he had genuine concern for the industry. When he was dismissed under very questionable circumstances, I was pushed to draw a solution from my political experience.
Together with some of my concerned friends from the Movement where I am leader of, we drafted a MAC Reconstruction Plan. I therefore admit the existence of such plan and my involvement. I did this with friends who are not employees of MAC. Isabelle Cruz, Peter Scott, and Anne Gabriel have nothing to do with this plan.
The plan was just a plan until, the burglary exposed it; the plan was a plan we were still debating on, deliberating on. There was no agreement yet as to its implementation, we have yet to decide whether to proceed with it or use internal mechanisms to find solutions to the problems that triggered the plan; but these are now moot. In fact, not a single portion of the plan has been implemented. Check the time frame and this is very evident. At the time you sent me your Notice of Complaint dated March 16, 2006, 63% of the plan should have been done. Instead, what has been done is a flagrant violation of my Philippine Constitutional Rights and the use of said data to destroy and question my personal and professional reputation.
The violation of my privacy, the apparent over-reaction of the leadership of this organization, and the damage done by MAC’s empty promises to my fellow Filipinos along with the unjust with holding of my half month hard earned salary for March 1-15, 2006 are issues that are important to me.
I reserve my right to seek justice through legal means against those who, directly or indirectly, wantonly violated my rights guaranteed under our Philippine Constitution.
Sincerely,
CYRUS MACASERA
The criminal complaint was made by Cyrus Macasera in regards to the alleged hacking by MAC of his personal computer. The complaint was filed April 5, 2006. I was told by a trusted source that MAC held what was basically an emergency board meeting on or about April 6, 2006 and these charges were discussed at this meeting. In personal communication between myself and Paul Holthus via e-mail, the most recent being today, Paul Holthus states...
"MAC has not received any information or notification from any government agency or legal authority regarding criminal charges against MAC or any of its employees. There is no further comment or information that can be provided on this matter."
Holthus made the above statement even after I had sent him a copy of the complaint. I'm going to contact the Makati City Prosecution Office to see when the charges and/or subpoenas were delivered to MAC.
Mark's post was:
"All,
This is a letter from my good friend Cyrus whom I worked with in the Philippines. He is president of a national youth group called Save ME (ME = Mother Earth). He began with MAC as a volunteer and worked circles around some of the paid staff whom often made more than 10 or 15 times his menial salary.... He is a great man and I hope to work with him very soon. He was recently fired from MAC for trying make some positive changes for his country. Here is his response:
Dear Mr. Holthus,
This is to officially respond to your letter asking me to explain my involvement in an alleged effort to undermine the Marine Aquarium Council.
I am severely disappointed and outraged at the violation of my privacy. It is apparent that over the last how many days my personal email account has been invaded and my personal files copied or taken without my approval; such virtual burglary apparently producing document/s that are now being used to implicate me. Violation of my privacy by itself is reprehensible, but using the fruits of such wrongful deed to further prejudice me is brazen disregard for justice and fairness.
I have served the Marine Aquarium Council with commitment and loyalty. I saw it a great opportunity to elevate my personal advocacy to higher levels of relevance and impact. The same commitment and dedication I gave to my movement the Save Mother Earth Movement Philippines, I gave to MAC. I admit that my commitment and dedication to the programs of MAC gave me fulfillment and an opportunity to challenge myself, but this same dedication made me see the ills of MAC as an organization. I have seen the trainers in the different places risk and sacrifice their lives to the extent of leaving their beloved family yet they are not given an equitable income and benefits. The broken promises made to my fellow Filipinos in Tawi-Tawi, Cagayancillo, Bohol, and Northern Palawan, by the leadership of MAC, are taken lightly; as if these poor Filipinos are just kids that can be cajoled with empty promises then left alone to cry. Well, maybe promises are just promises, but not when the integrity of the advocacy of MAC is put into serious doubt due to mismanagement and insensitivity to the plight of the Filipinos and the government institutions working hand in hand with MAC’s management. Not when supposedly concerned International NGO’s make money out of the misery of the third world and its poor people such as ours.
These realizations and the feeling of betrayal have been building up within me. But I have given the organization the benefit of my doubts. I wanted to believe the organization can improve itself from within, but when my supervisor Mark Schreffler was dismissed I knew something had to be done. Mark was one of the very few members of the MAMTI office who was truly passionate about the plight of the Filipino aquarium fishers and exporters, and he had genuine concern for the industry. When he was dismissed under very questionable circumstances, I was pushed to draw a solution from my political experience.
Together with some of my concerned friends from the Movement where I am leader of, we drafted a MAC Reconstruction Plan. I therefore admit the existence of such plan and my involvement. I did this with friends who are not employees of MAC. Isabelle Cruz, Peter Scott, and Anne Gabriel have nothing to do with this plan.
The plan was just a plan until, the burglary exposed it; the plan was a plan we were still debating on, deliberating on. There was no agreement yet as to its implementation, we have yet to decide whether to proceed with it or use internal mechanisms to find solutions to the problems that triggered the plan; but these are now moot. In fact, not a single portion of the plan has been implemented. Check the time frame and this is very evident. At the time you sent me your Notice of Complaint dated March 16, 2006, 63% of the plan should have been done. Instead, what has been done is a flagrant violation of my Philippine Constitutional Rights and the use of said data to destroy and question my personal and professional reputation.
The violation of my privacy, the apparent over-reaction of the leadership of this organization, and the damage done by MAC’s empty promises to my fellow Filipinos along with the unjust with holding of my half month hard earned salary for March 1-15, 2006 are issues that are important to me.
I reserve my right to seek justice through legal means against those who, directly or indirectly, wantonly violated my rights guaranteed under our Philippine Constitution.
Sincerely,
CYRUS MACASERA
The criminal complaint was made by Cyrus Macasera in regards to the alleged hacking by MAC of his personal computer. The complaint was filed April 5, 2006. I was told by a trusted source that MAC held what was basically an emergency board meeting on or about April 6, 2006 and these charges were discussed at this meeting. In personal communication between myself and Paul Holthus via e-mail, the most recent being today, Paul Holthus states...
"MAC has not received any information or notification from any government agency or legal authority regarding criminal charges against MAC or any of its employees. There is no further comment or information that can be provided on this matter."
Holthus made the above statement even after I had sent him a copy of the complaint. I'm going to contact the Makati City Prosecution Office to see when the charges and/or subpoenas were delivered to MAC.
clarionreef
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- San Francisco
The directors retort speaks volumes...
Canned, automatic, bureaucratic, political....but not sincere.
Steve
Canned, automatic, bureaucratic, political....but not sincere.
Steve
clarionreef
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- San Francisco
Rich,
Cyrus was/is a messenger that the org. he worked for tried/tries to silence.
Breaking into his computer to see if he talked to us and others?
The message is that when you work for MAC, your a#* is theirs and you give up all rights to speak freely...and they will get to you even if by illegal means..hence the complaint.
My goodness gracious.
Sounds positively paranoid.
Steve
Cyrus was/is a messenger that the org. he worked for tried/tries to silence.
Breaking into his computer to see if he talked to us and others?
The message is that when you work for MAC, your a#* is theirs and you give up all rights to speak freely...and they will get to you even if by illegal means..hence the complaint.
My goodness gracious.
Sounds positively paranoid.
Steve
Thats not shooting what shooting the messenger means. But that is neither here nor there. Given the current local industry rumor mill, I am wary of trusting any messengers!
We don't know that his computer was broken into - all we have is his complaint. Not all complaints are true. Perhaps one of the other people he was working with forwarded it onto MAC and hasn't told anyone about it, and perhaps the computer was broken into. It will be interesting to see what happens.
But that is neither here nor there. Given the current local industry rumor mill, I am wary of trusting any messengers! We don't know that his computer was broken into - all we have is his complaint. Not all complaints are true. Perhaps one of the other people he was working with forwarded it onto MAC and hasn't told anyone about it, and perhaps the computer was broken into. It will be interesting to see what happens.
I agree with Rich, MAC is innocent until proven otherwise in a Court of Law. But, if high ranking members are found guilty of these charges it would make me more inclined to believe some of the other rumors going around about MAC (i.e. financial shenanigans, etc).
clarionreef
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- San Francisco
Fair enough,
I can't wait for the rest to catch up to what some of us already know then.
Steve
I can't wait for the rest to catch up to what some of us already know then.
Steve
I guess it's just plain curiosity, but I wouldn't mind having a look at the the MAC Reconstruction Plan that Cyrus and the others drafted. I mean who knows, perhaps there are some meaningful suggestions in the plan. The whole situation is very unfortunate and imo the USCRTF will not look at this development favorably. In other words this is all very serious business.
Mitch
Mitch
danieldm":2zglq8kq said:
Marc, ever been to a PI court proceeding, or thru the PI court system? Mexico has those same words in their constitution, ever been thru the Mexican court system? Are you really innocent until proven guilty? What some piece of paper says, and the actions of the court are, can be very different indeed. We're not talking USA here, but heck, even in the US, theres more then numerous cases of being treated guilty from square zero. I seem to recall a docuement that relieves us of those rights, the Patriot Act. The UK back in the early 90's passed a similiar bill, the Criminal Justice Bill. Seems the move is to guilty until proven innocent.
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