A LOCAL official of the National Alliance of Movements for Federalism Inc. (Namfed) was ousted from the group after he was reportedly collecting funds from their members, particularly on the northern part of Negros Occidental.
Fortunato Pelaez, regional operations director of Namfed in Western Visayas, in a press conference at the Negros Press Club in Bacolod City on Thursday, September 13, said they passed a resolution during their meeting last Tuesday, removing Weddy Libo-on as assistant regional operations director of Namfed.
This came after they received complaints from some members that Libo-on and his colleagues were allegedly collecting P500 each for the national pension of senior citizens and livelihood assistance, and another P300 for their national Identification card (ID).
The Hugpong Federalismo ng Pagbabago Inc. under Namfed led by Pelaez clarified the group does not collect any funds for the said purpose. His statement was also supported by Namfed-6 officials Francis Amado Lim, assistant regional operations director in Capiz, Raul Cordova, operations director in Iloilo City, and Charito Moya, assistant regional operations director in southern Negros.
Pelaez said they found out recently that Libo-on’s group has been collecting funds from their members in Manapla, Cadiz, Escalante, and Sagay since February this year. Almost P500,000 were already collected from more than 1,000 members, he added.
Pelaez showed to the members of the media the fake ID, letters given to some members signed by Libo-on for the collection of funds, and photos showing him conducting a meeting with some farmers, promising them for livelihood projects, as grounds for Libo-on’s violation.
The said report also reached the complaint center in Metro Manila, thus, he was advised to check on the matter and clarify it to the members.
They already sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on the matter and they were told to prove their allegation to take effect the arrest.
The group believed that Libo-on committed violations like using the Namfed logo in any transactions, activities, programs, misrepresentation using the name of the movement in any forms, and issuance of IDs bearing the name of HFPI or Namfed, all without the approval of the regional office, and collecting funds in any monetary forms.
He also alleged that Libo-on insisted to push through the oath-taking activity of some members at the Bacolod public plaza on September 15, despite national officials of the group decided to postpone the activity due to an emergency meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte.
Pelaez said they informed Libo-on about the reason of the postponement of the activity but the latter insisted to go on with the activity even if he has no right to make his own decision about it.
“We’re sad because one of the leaders chose to do his own thing even if it’s not right. He became uncontrollable,” he added.
Pelaez said it’s a mere violation of the protocol. He said they tried to talk to him several times but he refused to face them.
For his part, Libo-on, over an interview with Aksyon Radyo Bacolod, denied the allegations against him.
Libo-on said he did not collect a single centavo from the members and he is personally spending his money to support the advocacy of the president.
“Why would I collect money from them? We voluntarily use our money for this advocacy,” he added.
Libo-on also said that there is no ground to arrest him because he did not commit any crime.
They should prove their allegations against me,” he added.
Libon-on also reacted on the group’s action for ousting him, claiming that Pelaez has no right to remove him because it needs to be discussed first in a meeting.
He also explained that his reason for pushing the oath-taking activity is because he does not want to be blamed by other members, who already expected it after he had sent them invitations.