Side Notes: On Gifts, Strings, and Everything In Between

A little background:

Dylan Wilk is married to Anna, Tony Meloto's daughter. He is the owner of the infamous "second-hand BMW" mentioned in the Lorenzo Cruz email that also questioned his assets. To learn more about him, please refer to the following link:

http://www.4-small-businesses.co.uk/top-small-businesses-idea-004.html

After Frank Padilla's GK-3 paper, the enmity between Frank and Tony solidified.

Here is a partial quote from the GK-3 paper :

TWO: Tony as “founder,” “father” or “driving force.”

REALITY: God gave GK to CFC. GK has no human founder. Jesus said to call no one
on earth “father,” since we all have only one Father, who is God.4 Further, being father is practically the same as being founder, since a father (with the mother) gives life to a child. The “driving force” behind GK is the Holy Spirit.

GOD’S INTENT: God intends to do a miraculous work through GK. God intends such
miraculous work to get the world to look to Him and recognize His majesty.

CONCERN: To call Tony or anyone else the founder, father or driving force is to put the person in place of God. Further, it makes GK simply of human and not divine origin. Still further, God is a jealous God and this can put Tony in jeopardy.

THE SOLUTION IS SIMPLE: Let us not build the cult of any one person. What should be promoted, and this will be sufficient for marketing purposes, is Gawad Kalinga and not any one person. In fact, since Tony by his own claim is now just a volunteer, the ones who should be at the forefront should be the GK Chair, Joe, and the GK Executive Director, Luis.6

Footnote.
6
It follows that Joe and Luis will be the ones to sign MOAs and contracts, represent GK officially, and speak at major GK events.

After GK-3 was released on Easter Sunday (hence the moniker, "Easter Group"), Tony admitted to feeling hurt and all communications ceased between Frank and Tony. Tony continued his work advocating GK here and abroad. His son-in-law Dylan had temporarily relocated to the USA with Anna to help further GK's causes there.

Frank Padilla's inquiry into Dylan's activities in the USA prompted this email exchange. To those wondering how I come across these emails; these are currently being distributed and forwarded in the CFC community by concerned members. I'm not the only one privy to these emails.

Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:31:01 +0800

To: "Issa Cuevas-Santos"

From: Frank Padilla

Subject: Re: gk recollection

If there is only one talk, then I am speaking about Lamentations. So there will be no need for a talk outline anymore. God bless.

Frank Padilla wrote:

By the way, you do not know about this GK Recollection? During our time, it certainly was not approved by the GK Board. Is Dylan now handling formation for GK? God bless.

From: Dylan Wilk

Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: gk recollection

To: Frank Padilla

Hi tito Frank,

As you know, I have been giving talks about GK both to CFC and non-CFC members every time I have been to the US for the past 3 years. I usually just pray and make a few notes but don't write the talks out in full unless I intend other people besides myself to give them after I leave. In fact, you yourself have approved them all when that has been the case (e.g. 'Renewing the Face of the Earth', 'Crossing the Jordan' and 'Shepherding a Nation').

The 'recollection' I gave in a few places in the US a couple of months ago was a talk entitled 'The Heart of GK' and it was specifically for GK partners and volunteers, which included both CFC and non-CFC members. It included my personal sharing about CFC and as I reported to you after I came back, several people (that I know of) agreed to take the CLP after listening to it.

I don't have a written up version of the talk, only a few scribbled notes.

By the way, I just heard that you were told by somebody that my 25th anniversary gift to the Melotos was misused. To make absolutely sure that you have the correct facts, all I gave the Melotos was a card saying that I would build 50 houses in each of their hometowns. They never touched the money. It was taken from my GK account and sent directly to the sites. Everything has been liquidated and accounted for.

This is yet another example of somebody completely fabricating an extremely vicious lie and feeding it to you. Could you let me know where it came from?

Thanks and God bless,

Dylan

Frank Padilla wrote:

Hello Dylan. I think it was the US that talked about a GK Recollection (12 talks?). Jorge Villanueva of GK Europe is also scheduled to give a GK recollection. I just asked Issa about it (see 4/17 email below), but I did not say it was yours. So is there any other GK Recollection with a series of talks? Your talking about GK including your personal sharing is of course OK. You are free to do that anywhere. But if our CFC brethren are called for a formal GK recollection, that is what I would like to be aware of.

By the way, you and Luis and Joe never responded to my email of 3/29 asking about your formal role or goals in going to the US for 6 months. As far as I know, the US Council is also unaware. Don't you think that we need to coordinate these things, if you are going to be relating with CFC members on such an extensive basis?

I also did not hear anything from you about the last GK Board meeting, as you had told me that you would bring up to them my suggestion, which you agree with, of having an open dialogue to tackle all issues.

You are right about people fabricating vicious lies -- no, not what was told to me, but what was told to you. Nothing is being mentioned by any of us regarding your building a village for the Melotos. There is no issue at all about that. What is being mentioned, and I know about it, is the money raised during the Melotos' 25th anniversary where contributions to GK were given in lieu of gifts. This money was placed in GK, and rightly so. But it has been treated as a personal fund, where Tony draws for personal expenses, rather than being GK's money as it truly is. Now it is my turn to ask you: could you let me know who told you? Perhaps one of the Council members, since it was brought up, just as an aside, during our meeting just last Monday?

Yes there is a lot of loose talk. Yes we get all heated up when we hear one-sided and at times erroneous reports. So the important thing is to have a dialogue, or a meeting where every issue is surfaced and people really speak out and we look for the truth. For my part I have nothing to hide. I am open to being asked anything. I promise not to be angry or defensive. I am not onion-skinned or vindictive. When I have some important issues, I put it on paper (like CFC and GK - 3) rather than talking behind people's backs. I desire only the good of all. All I want is to surface the truth, since the enemy works in darkness and exploits all of us. I am still waiting for that meeting.

God bless.

Questions:

Frank's statement, "I just asked Issa about it (see 4/17 email below), but I did not say it was yours." may have been true in context, but the implication of Dylan's involvment was certainly present in his email to Issa,

"During our time, it certainly was not approved by the GK Board. Is Dylan now handling formation for GK?"

One would also wonder why Frank Padilla feels the need to be involved in these matters when he had resigned as CFC Director and GK Chair back in February, as documented in the Feb-March issue of the Ugnayan:

Collective Responsibility

We take collective responsibility for the disillusionment that causes elders to even
leave the community. We, in the Council, have tried to give our all but it seems not good enough. We have simply fallen short of God’s expectations. And we repent of these, of course.

But we need to suffer the consequences. The council, in recognition of all of these, is willing to face the consequences. So as of today, our brother Tony Meloto, our brother Lachie Agana and myself are out of the CFC Council and out of the Gawad Kalinga board. I will no longer be CFC Director and GK Chair and our brother Tony will no longer be the GK Executive Director. The four other brothers of the Council will continue as a Council. The three of us - Tony, myself and Lachie - will continue to serve in whatever capacity that the Council deems proper for us or whatever they ask of us.

There is a need for drastic purification of the body. This is our Lamentations. We strongly reaffirm our brotherhood and sisterhood in the Council. We strongly affirm our love for one another. The Council is one in this decision; in making this decision we simply look to God’s mercy not just upon us, but upon our whole community.

A note to readers:

I'm now putting a lot more information in each post, including links to documents, sound bites, and official statements/articles. Please do click on the links embedded in the post, they will help you look at all aspects of the issues.

Coming up...the rest of the email exchange between Dylan and Frank, as well as more on the "gifts" and the "giver."

The Easter Egg Hunt continues....