A poster named 'uhav2no' started a thread called: SWINDLER at the following online community forums:
http://www.siampinoy.com/forum2/index.php/topic,1353.0.html
and
http://www.ajarnforum.net/vb/the-staffroom/33878-swindler.html
I responded to the accusation at www.siampinoy.com:
Please allow me to copy-paste what I have written in defense of this unfounded accusations:
uhav2no posted:
WARNING!
TO ALL FOREIGN TEACHERS IN THAILAND:
Peace be with you all!
I attended the 20-hour Training Course on Thai Culture and Language, Professional Standards and Code of Conduct for Foreign Teachers conducted by the Private School Teachers’ Association of Thailand (PSTAT) at some time in July 2008. Although the training was pretty fine, still, it didn’t meet my expectations. Unfortunately, the training was spoiled by a number of organizational problems. I explain each of the problems below.
Firstly, I had difficulty in registering to attend the training because I am not sure of who actually to contact since there are a lot of people in-charge or should I say, there are a lot of people trying to take the responsibility because it involves money. Anyhow, I eventually succeeded in registering. That’s what I thought.
Secondly, the training was held in a school’s conference room, if that’s how it may be called. And frankly speaking, the venue was better suited to a small-sized conference than to a medium-sized training. However, it was alright. But, the lack of space led to serious overcrowding in the venue, especially during the group activities.
Thirdly, the training was held in a vegetarian school. I don’t have any complain about that. But should they want to economize the food budget, they should have at least prepared some good food. After all, there are a lot of cheap vegetables in the market. Well, I shouldn’t have the guts to say something about this, as they claim that the food was free. But actually, it wasn’t. The participants exceeded to what is expected, and instead of giving a refund, they just said that, we don’t have to pay for the food. So, was the food really for free?
Fourthly, what’s the training for? Alright, I understand fully that it’s a requirement from the Teacher’s Council of Thailand (TCT) and maybe from the Ministry of Education (MoE). Well, I don’t know exactly the details about this, but since they said that it’s really important, who am I not to abide. Let me say something about the training: It is something that I already know about Thailand! What had been discussed there wasn’t new to me. The 20-hour training didn’t teach me more than what I have learned and experienced for the years that I have stayed here in Thailand.
The final and the most important point I want to make, concerns about X the training coordinator, as introduced. On the first day of the training, X was already rude and unethical! When he spoke upfront, he was very domineering and as if he wasn’t speaking with professionals. I know that some Filipinos are naughty sometimes but still, they need to be respected. The way X behaved was really very unprofessional! During the training, X would come up front and call some names – participants of whom he claimed to have some problems with the registration. Actually, it wasn’t a big issue. If there were mistakes with the spelling, they can just correct it. Anyway, it’s just the first day, and certificates will be given on the third day. There were also some participants who registered as a group, and were under one person’s name only. X, then claimed that they were not registered. As for my case, me and 8 other friends registered together, but unfortunately, X said that me and another friend didn’t register. We wonder how it happened, but it’s only X who would know! So how did X solve this problem? X asked us, for 100 Baht! He said, “You only have one choice, either you pay 100 Baht or you won’t have your certificates!” Although, we complained, still we paid 100 Baht. We didn’t have a choice, and we didn’t want to make a scene and consume our time arguing. Also, X is the training coordinator, so he might have his way against us. There were about 50 of us who paid 100 Baht. 50 unlucky professionals who were deceived by one bad man, X! (Is he really a man? Anyone won’t think so!). On the second day, no shadow of X was seen. We never saw him until the last day. When we asked Y, assistant coordinator maybe, she said that X must have left with the money. She even added that it was X’s personal decision to collect the money and PSTAT and FTAT (Filipino Teachers Association in Thailand) don’t any responsibility for this. Y even asked some attendees to submit complaint letters so that proper action will be done. But until now, there seems to be no action at all. X is still the training coordinator. They were all part of it! I was wise not to tell my name to Y, else, they wouldn’t have given my certificate. Indeed, they were all part of this scam!
I am telling you these so that you can look into these matters - not only on my behalf but also on behalf of other attendees, and in fact on behalf of all the foreign teachers, especially the Filipinos.
Let’s all be vigilant!
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And this is my response:
I am the X the poster is referring to. It is a privilege to air my side of the story as a member of Siam Pinoy and as, obviously, the person who is working with Private School Teachers' Association of Thailand (PSTAT) . Should the poster request for an official statement from the PSTAT prior to the enlightenment that I intend to share, then I invite the poster to send us an official letter asking for an explanation ( for whatever motive that poster has) in that way the poster could LEGALLY use our statements for whatever legal purposes the poster serves him/her best. You can address your concerns to the President of PSTAT and FAX it to 02-379-73-44.
Now, please allow me as the X being ACCUSED of a lot of things by the poster to clarify things.
The X he is referring to is Mr. ABEL MORALES CADIAS. (I will take this opportunity to invite you to view my blog at www.abelcadias.blog.co.uk).
I am the training coordinator of PSTAT. My job is to communicate the agreements made between PSTAT and the organizers ( second party) to both parties: making sure that ALL PEOPLE CONCERNED should understand HOW things work. Second, my job is to make sure that whatever FINAL LIST OF PARTICIPANTS that the organizer has provided ( as part of the agreement, the organizers are required to submit FINAL list of participants at least ONE WEEK before the training starts) I have to make sure that ALL have attended and are present considering the prescribed time. Third, my job is to ATTEST that all participants have completed the required 90% attendance with the approval of the speakers ( the speakers, including the training coordinator, have the right to PASS or to FAIL participants who have not successfully met the course requirements). Finally, it is my job to make the Certificates of Completion ( a requirement of the Teachers' Council of Thailand to apply for a teachers' license) as directed by the president of PSTAT ( which means the president decides WHEN to give the certificates considering the ORGANIZATIONAL abilities of the second parties).
As agreed PSTAT shall conduct the training ORGANIZED by the Filipino Teachers' Association of Thailand (FTAT) headed by Mr. Romney Sison and the Association of Cordillerans in Thailand (ACT) headed by Mrs. Theresita Zarate to 193 Filipino teachers ( plus other nationalities) at the Modern International School in Bangkok sometime in July 2008.
Your questions on food, venue and the training fee required by both organizers should be addressed to them ( FTAT and ACT). Please email me at augt25@yahoo.com should you be interested to get the email address of the TWO OFFICIAL ( Mr. Sison and Mrs. Zarate) representatives of their organizations. FYI, we required them to pay only 2,200.00 ( originally 2,500.00) Baht out of the 2, 500 they set as as the training fee they collected from the participants. Of which the additional 300 Baht which they calimed to be paid for the venue and for the lunch and refreshments of the participants. Nevertheless, the decreased amount of training was a courtesy of the President of PSTAT for the Filipino teachers. Please take note that it was the effort of the Filipino Educators Council and other organizations ( who made history by organizing the first affordable and successful Thai Culture to more than 200 teachers at 13 Coins Airport Hotel) that gave an inspiring impression she has to Filipino teachers.
- And so you should thank Mr. Romney and Ms. Tess for negotiating with her. The names of the rest of the "organizers" ( those who were not mentioned aside from the two) whom you always heard of during the training were, the right term would be, unneeded FACADES!
Your question on the LAW required by the Teachers Council of Thailand ( as to why you have to take it) and not the Ministry of Education (MoE) can be addressed to the Secretary-General. Please check their website at www.ksp.or.th. I suggest you personally hand your letter to him in that way you might be convinced as to the reasons of the existence of the LAW. Your personal feelings toward the training though valid are unfortunately irrelevant. ( It is just my opinion).
Now let me clarify matters concerning X ( me) BASED on your statements:
1. The final and the most important point I want to make, concerns about X the training coordinator, as introduced. On the first day of the training, X was already rude and unethical! When he spoke upfront, he was very domineering and as if he wasn’t speaking with professionals. I know that some Filipinos are naughty sometimes but still, they need to be respected. The way X behaved was really very unprofessional!
- I introduced myself as the PSTAT training coordinator and nobody did. It was my job to orient you on what to do and HOW things should be done to facilitate the flow of the program. If you feel that you were violated professionally then I suggest you write a letter to the president of PSTAT, in that way, I could also evaluate myself and provide you with an official letter.
2. During the training, X would come up front and call some names – participants of whom he claimed to have some problems with the registration. Actually, it wasn’t a big issue. If there were mistakes with the spelling, they can just correct it. Anyway, it’s just the first day, and certificates will be given on the third day.
- Trust me I wouldn't want to be wasting my time calling names of participants should there be NO any problems in the registration. Second, identifying a particular participant in group of 193 teachers was not an easy task ( especially if the list provided was 230 teachers when the agreed number of participants was just only 193) and that NO organizer ( Mr. Romney and his other UNOFFICIAL colleague; and Mrs. Tess) claimed that they KNOW the "mysterious" teachers!
- Correcting spellings ( first by the registrar ( FTAT and ACT) and lastly by the verifier ( from FTAT) took 3 hours to ensure that the MASTER COPY that I haD ( provided by the organizers one week before the training) matched the people on the attendance sheet, where, the organizers decided to use their OWN SEPARATE listings of their "participants." That's where the BIGGEST problem rooted out. When my master copy (official) did not match the NAMES and NUMBER of participants the organizers provided, and WHEN the organizers DISCLAIMED any of the "surplus" teachers, it was MY JOB to balance the equation.
- The president of PSTAT ( who as I have said has the authority to tell WHEN to give the certificates based on the organizational abilities of the second party organizers) told Mr. Romney and Ms. Tess that the participants could only get their certificates in TWO WEEKS TIME. Of which I OBJECTED. I gave my full trust to the organizers that the list of participants they provided was true and correct. And so I insisted to DO the Certificates ( provided that they ( the organizers) could give me an erroneous FINAL list of participants before 12 noon on the first day of the training. The reason for this was because I need at least two hours to make the certificates BEFORE LEAVING TO KORAT for another training organized by the AFT-Northeastern Region on the next day. For your information, you might want to read the story of that training held at St. Mary's School at www.abelcadias.blog.co.uk).
And this was WHEN I partly made mistake. I overruled the decision of the President of PSTAT to give the certificates to the participants 2 weeks after the training. Should I followed her decision, NONE of these registration problems occurred. But I did not, at the same time, feel sorry of what I decided upon: 169 certificates were given to the participants out of 198 teachers; 18 errors were made by the verifier and I admit I made 11 errors in encoding all names in a given time from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. I made it to Korat at 2 AM in the morning where I had to do my job as early 7:30 AM on the same day. And never did I complain....it is after all my job. I gave a talk on teacher licensure to less than 70 teachers at 8:00 AM on the same day!
3. There were also some participants who registered as a group, and were under one person’s name only. X, then claimed that they were not registered. As for my case, me and 8 other friends registered together, but unfortunately, X said that me and another friend didn’t register. We wonder how it happened, but it’s only X who would know! So how did X solve this problem? X asked us, for 100 Baht! He said, “You only have one choice, either you pay 100 Baht or you won’t have your certificates!” Although, we complained, still we paid 100 Baht. We didn’t have a choice, and we didn’t want to make a scene and consume our time arguing. Also, X is the training coordinator, so he might have his way against us. There were about 50 of us who paid 100 Baht. 50 unlucky professionals who were deceived by one bad man, X! (Is he really a man? Anyone won’t think so!).
- That's where ANOTHER flaw of the organizers came in. They failed to IDENTIFY those who paid under their so-called "members" form a GROUP registered under one name. It was on my burden of proof to show that the OTHER NAMES existed out of the number on the list were not eligible. And to my surprised, no ORGANIZER claimed that they knew these "extra" participants.
-As the training coordinator of PSTAT, it is BOUND ON MY POWERS AND DUTIES to impose necessary fines. I collected 100 Baht for SEVEN (7) people and not 50 as claimed from the participants telling them that the 100 Baht shall served as payments of acquiring extra more certificates; shall served as an added fee for REDOING the list initially provided by the organizers; and as a form of incentive for the FREE WILL in considering them in the training instead of kicking them out. The 700 Baht collection was submitted to the President of PSTAT later.
- I invite you to FILE A LEGAL COMPLAINT against me...you and the 50 others you claimed I deceived if you still think that you were ROB. I would be very glad to face you and the 50 others you claimed in the court of law. ( You may want to include GENDER issues in your complaint as well ,of which, I believed is nobody's business).
4. On the second day, no shadow of X was seen. We never saw him until the last day. When we asked Y, assistant coordinator maybe, she said that X must have left with the money. She even added that it was X’s personal decision to collect the money and PSTAT and FTAT (Filipino Teachers Association in Thailand) don’t any responsibility for this. Y even asked some attendees to submit complaint letters so that proper action will be done. But until now, there seems to be no action at all. X is still the training coordinator. They were all part of it! I was wise not to tell my name to Y, else, they wouldn’t have given my certificate. Indeed, they were all part of this scam!
Obviously I was not seen at MISB for the next two days but I was happily seen in KORAT for three days. If you were referring to the Thai lady (Y) whom we requested to take my place as the coordinator then I guess her suggestion of you to submit a complaint was a very wise move. You should have done that. And so, it was a "personal decision" to collect 100 Baht to seven (7) participants as I was given a privilege by PSTAT to make such decisions based on my judgment. You may contend this matter if you wish.
- Now, the Filipino Teachers Association of Thailand ( FTAT) headed by Mr. Romney Sison, TO STRAIGHTEN THE FACT and in fairness to the Association of Cordillerans in Thailand (ACT) headed by Mrs. Tess Zarate, was FOUND to be liable of all the registration problems. It was found that FTAT provided "false names" and did not properly account their so-called "members."
- AS OF TO DATE, the Filipino Teachers' Association of Thailand (FTAT) is "BANNED" from working with PSTAT in conducting future trainings. They were last heard to be organizing another training somewhere in Nonthaburi. I wish them all the best!
5. X is still the training coordinator. They were all part of it! I was wise not to tell my name to Y, else, they wouldn’t have given my certificate. Indeed, they were all part of this scam!
- Yes, I am still the training coordinator. TO DATE, we have conducted six (6) trainings in all parts of Thailand after the unlucky incident at MISB.
- And so to you mr./miss/ms./mrs. poster: it's so easy to make accusations, isn't it?
6. I am telling you these so that you can look into these matters - not only on my behalf but also on behalf of other attendees, and in fact on behalf of all the foreign teachers, especially the Filipinos.
Let’s all be vigilant!
- No comment.
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For any inquiries in processing your license, please feel free to contact me:
Abel Morales Cadias
PSTAT Training Coordinator
0867090873
augt25@yahoo.com
www.abelcadias.blog.co.uk
Have a nice day!