Manila regional trial court (RTC) Branch 45 Judge Marcelino Sayo has ordered the election of the officers of Khalsa Diwan Sikh Temple Inc., a religious Filipino-Indian organization, on August 7 at GDCC Sports Center (formerly YMCA), Arroceros, Manila.

Petitioners Vijay Kumar, Gurmit Singh and Bhagwant Bansal said the election has been requested several times over the past years by the majority members of the Khalsa Diwan Sikh Temple but was allegedly denied by the incumbent officers headed by Amardeep Singh and Pritam Singh.

They said the conduct of election is provided for in the article of incorporation and by-laws of Khalsa Diwan Sikh Temple Inc.

They added the defendants even tried to put an end to the 1929-organized Khalsa Diwan Sikh Temple of the Philippines-Indian forefathers.

They said the incumbent officers, in the furtherance of their unscrupulous acts and plans, allegedly formed another group under the corporate name Khalsa Diwan (Sikh Religious Association) Inc. and registered it with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

They said the P28 million savings of the Khalsa Diwan Sikh Temple, Inc. and other donations have been allegedly transferred to defendants after the latter purchased several parcels of land and registered it under their corporate name.

Gov’t managers must have the ‘character’: David

A bureaucracy that has only competence and capacity will go nowhere; the challenge is to have character and whether one will use character in the service of the bureaucracy.

This was the message of Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairperson Karina Constantino-David to government managers during a forum held recently at the Manila Hotel attended by a batch of conferees of the Career Service Executive eligibility.

Unlike competence and capacity, character cannot be measured on the basis of examination or interview. David emphasized that character is something “you either have, you have lost, you have forgotten, or you can develop.”

“Character means that when you have the skill, when you have the insight, when you have what you think is the right way of doing things, your decisiveness will allow you to speak out nicely and convincingly in trying to influence the directions especially of policy,” the CSC chief expressed.

She added that people in the third level must possess the character to change what is wrong inasmuch as they are the ones expected to attend to government _housekeeping. “The character to change really means not keeping your eyes closed to the kinds of corruption that you find around you,” David said.

She expressed optimism that with government executives deciding to allow their character to bloom, a bureaucracy that is not taken for granted, that is respected for its integrity and expertise, and that does its all in the development of our country shall evolve.

De Castro at PNU

Vice President of the Philippines Noli de Castro will be the guest speaker in the opening program of this year’s celebration of the National Language Month at the Philippine Normal University (PNU) at the PNU Auditorium today, Aug. 6.

He will be introduced by Dr. Nilo L. Rosas, PNU president.

The Vice President will talk on the topic “Wikang Pilipino Tungo sa Pambansang Kabuhayan, Kalayaan at Pagkakaisa.”

The Filipino Department of College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature, PNU, will sponsor the activity.