THE Cagayan de Oro City Council will investigate the authenticity of a tribal group offering house and lot, scholarship, and livelihood opportunities to its members.
Councilor Reuben Daba said a member of the tribal group reported to him that he has given about P700,000 to the Native Authentic Philippine History Tallano Ancestral Land (Naphthali) to process his papers and avail of the said benefits.
"Kung tinuod gani na, we will help them. Pero kung dili, musupak mi, kay dili pwede dulaan ang mga tawo nga nangandoy lang nga magka-balay," Daba said.
(If this is true, we will help them. If not, we will oppose this because you cannot mess with people who dream of having their own home.)
"Pero sa akong tan-aw, it's too good to be true. We should have learned from the past kay naka-agi na kita ug mga scams. Galisod gani ang city ug paghatag sa mga flood and typhoon victims pero kini dali kaayo, murag maka-duda gyud," he added.
(As I see it, it’s too good to be true. We should have learned from the past because there have been similar scams. The city government is even having difficulty providing for flood and typhoon victims. In this case, it is so easy to acquire a house and lot.)
Vice Mayor Raineir Joaquin "Kikang" Uy, however, pushed to invite officials first before issuing any statement or advisory against the organization.
City Councilors George Goking and Edna Dahino both agreed to let the organization air their position before calling them a possible scam.
“With Plotous coin, we started with verification, dili gyud pwede haka-haka, we cannot accuse, we can get into trouble by accusing them," Goking said.
"I know personally one of the coordinators, so we have to dig deeper," Dahino added.
The city council has referred the issue to the committee as a whole.
According to its Facebook page Napthali Tribes, the group is a non-profitable and non-partisan organization that aims to empower and advocate for humanity.