First in a series

Lies of Legendary

Magnitude

The H. Martin Foundation Returns to Vallejo

“The H. Martin Foundation possesses assets of legendary magnitude”

quote from Flor Lat Villapando World Co-Chair—H. Martin Foundation

By Marc Garman

8/10/09

They say it takes one to know one. I come from a long line of hucksters and snake oil salesman types. My uncle, for example, changed his name to Gurudas and made a fortune selling tap water bottled as homeopathic remedies. The so called “elixirs” were allegedly imbued with healing properties after being passed under a pyramid. Perhaps it was a harmless deception, or perhaps some believer refused real medical treatment and died. Hard to say. Nonetheless, it made my uncle a small fortune.

So, I have a good nose for fraud. I got a real whiff on Friday when the H. Martin Foundation (HMF) came to Vallejo and gave a day long presentation at Pastor Rey Bernardes' Global Center for Success on Mare Island. I had thought that my previous article on VIB—Chasing Rainbows—had been sufficient to cast doubt on the integrity and intentions of this so called “foundation”. I suggest you read this first article as it outlines VIB's initial findings on this obvious scam.

Here is a basic outline of what our previous research has revealed:

1. The earliest reference we find to the H. Martin Foundation is in a Japan Times Article HERE dated January 1, 2001. According to the article a Japanese official,serving as an intermediary for a businessman, attempted “to deposit what he described as the huge assets of former Indonesian President Sukarno's half brother.” The article continues to indicate that “Martin”--ostensibly Martin Hornido Tirwatadinata-- of the H. Martin Foundation is the half brother of Sukarno. Japanese authorities intervened and no transaction took place. They continued to surmise “it is unlikely that the offer was backed by real assets,” and that the proposal may have been linked to money laundering.

2. The H. Martin Foundation lists an address of 4510 Ellenwood Drive Los Angeles CA 90041. It appears this is a residential neighborhood. It also seems that the house number 4510 does not exist on Ellenwood Drive.

3. Several attempts were made to call the Los Angeles phone number for the foundation. A woman answers “Hello” and when we request to speak with Martin H. Toriwatadinata or a representative of the foundation, she hangs up. The number is: (323) 441-1238

4. The H. Martin Foundation was registered as a “limited” company in Ireland on May 4, 2000. It was dissolved in July of 2002. It is listed as a “market research and public opinion polling” company. (A Las Vegas address also seems to have existed at one time )

5. Several online references claim that the funding for the foundation is derived from the Sultan of Bogor. Although the city of Bogor does exist in Indonesia, VIB has been unable to locate any reference to the Sultan except in conjunction with the H. Martin Foundation.

6. VIB has been unable to locate any actual business activity or actual projects completed by the H. Martin Foundation between 2001 and today.

7. A link to a document outlining previous proposals from the H. Martin Foundation presented to the City of Vallejo is HERE

8. Visit the H. Martin Foundation website: http://www.hmartinfoundation.com

The H. Martin Foundation Presentation

Friday August 7, 2009

I received an invitation to Friday's day long event from Pastor Bernardes himself. He had read my previous article and felt that I was in some way misguided or misinformed. He asked me to “keep an open mind”. Bernardes is a devotee and associate of the H. Martin Foundation. The organization describes itself as a “humanitarian funding organization”. They claim to be in the business of “giving money away.”

My next indication of something suspect took place when I was frisked by security upon entering the Global Center for Success. A gentleman in a blue blazer with an H. Martin logo passed a metal detector wand over my body while another patted me down and searched my bag. Signs were prominently posted forbidding the use of cameras or recording devices including cell phones with cameras.

Upon entering the chapel where the event was being held I was greeted by soft organ music playing and images of white doves projected on the screen along with the H. Martin logo:

Devotees of the H. Martin foundation greeted each other as “my brother” or “my sister”.

While the public were prohibited from having recording devices, a cadre of H. Martin associates were busy filming the event with some very nice high end video equipment. Approximately 175 people were present at the event including representatives from many of Vallejo's faith and non-profit community as well as representatives from California Maritime Academy and other organizations.

The first H. Martin Foundation speaker to address the crowd was a woman who was introduced as Osas Otasowie. Her accent was African, possibly Nigerian. She began by extolling the virtues of the H. Martin Foundation and continued to advise people in the audience that if they “feel sleepy” at any time during the presentation they should get up and move to the back of the room because the cameras would be “showing that to the world and we don't want to be showing that.”

“Are you ready for this?!!” she exclaimed encouraging the crowd to yell “Yes!!!” loudly for the cameras.

After the Opening Prayer and National Anthem, the crowd was greeted by Vallejo's very own Vice Mayor:

Hermie Sunga

Click the Image to View the Video

The image is much clearer in the video as the above image is a frame grab. As to how I got a camera through security? That would be telling. The sound is also quite clear in the video although the footage is quite short. H. Martin security were making a very focused effort to keep an eye on yours truly. But it is unmistakably Hermie.

Hermie was introduced by Pastor Rey Bernardes, who is standing to his left. Bernardes proudly introduced him as “Hermie Sunga, the Vice Mayor of The City of Vallejo”. Sunga's comments, while largely benign, did refer to the “opportunity” presented by the H. Martin Foundation to The City of Vallejo. 

Having Sunga introduce the event served to create the appearance of credibility. It speaks either to his ignorance and incompetence, or his knowing complicity. Perhaps both?

Pastor Bernardes, who indicated that he knows the foundation's founder, Mr. Martin Hornido Tirwatadinata “well” and has had “lunch and dinner together many times with the founder” stated that “The H. Martin Foundation is capable of funding projects in all 50 states and 186 nations around the world.” He continued to claim that the foundation's resources have been confirmed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). VIB has sent an inquiry to the IMF in both Washington and Indonesia where the HMF is based. (reply pending)

As the event progressed through several hours of talks and video presentations the range of incredible claims continued to expand.

The Vice-Chair of the organization Flor Lat Villapando a smallish middle-aged Filipino woman took the stage and addressed the crowd. She gently caressed a silver tipped riding crop as if it were a small child, gently stroking the pommel as she spoke. She referred to the organization's founder Martin Tirwatadinata as: “Papa Eddy”

Villapando finished her presentation with the words “Money is the key essence. The most important thing.”

Here are some highlights of projects described during the presentation that the H. Martin Foundation will allegedly engage in:

• The H. Martin Foundation will be partnering with Rey Bernardes and the Global Center for Success to create the H. Martin Foundation Global Center for Success. This new entity will inhabit a massive oval shaped structure on Mare Island that will be so huge in physical size that it will require an internal monorail system to allow people to traverse its vast expanse within a reasonable length of time.

The new building will provide services such as: free healthcare, free child care, vocational training, a cooking school, occupational therapy, services for the deaf and many more. It will “employ many people”.

• The H. Martin Foundation will be partnering with NASA to create the H. Martin global Satellite Communication Network. This system will consist of some sixteen geostationary satellites. The satellites will be equipped with universal language translation software that HMF will be developing. This software will be capable of translating every language on earth, therefore unifying the world's peoples.

Specifically, the satellite system will be used to facilitate the activities of the HMF Medical Equipment Distribution System located on Mare Island. Doctors anywhere in the world, speaking any language, who need durable or complex medical items will be able to request them from HMF. They will be rapidly shipped in HMF aircraft to any location in the world where they are needed.

• HMF will engage in a program of buying up empty or marginal shopping malls all over America and engage in converting them into “Humanitarian Malls”

• HMF will fund your humanitarian organization forever. “Purity of intent is our only prerequisite.”

As I sat in the audience, and listened to the claims made by the cast of characters on the stage, I held back my incredulity and thought: My life is like a David Lynch movie.    LINK

Tune in next week—same time same station-- to learn how I found myself compelled to exit the building by H. Martin security---and for a closer look at some of the players in this ongoing game of deception.

Also, we'll examine the anatomy of this sort of operation and how human assets are manipulated to draw others in.

Our research is ongoing.