Surigao del Sur vice governor, wife nabbed over ‘investment’ scheme

LIBRADO NAVARRO —Photo from Facebook page of LIBRADO NAVARRO

SAN FRANCISCO, AGUSAN DEL SUR — Police arrested on Thursday night Surigao del Sur Vice Gov. Librado Navarro and his wife, Maylene, in Bislig City on charges of syndicated estafa in connection with a failed investment scheme.

Police Col. Joseph Boquiren, Surigao del Sur provincial police director, said the warrant for the Navarro couple was served at Sitio San Andres in Barangay Maharlika around 10:30 p.m.

Librado, 64, and Maylene, 47, were charged with two counts of estafa before Regional Trial Court Branch 42 in Medina, Misamis Oriental province. The court did not recommend bail based on an arrest warrant issued on March 14, said Police Lt. Col. Michael Lozada, the police chief of Bislig City, where Librado is running for mayor in the May polls.

Police Maj. Dorothy Tumulak, spokesperson for the Caraga regional police, said the police of Talisayan town in Misamis Oriental, where Maylene is a councilor, reported that many residents complained about unfulfilled investment returns by Demeter Agribusiness Organic Farming, a company owned by the Navarro couple.

Complaints

The same company has been the subject of complaints by at least 200 residents in Marihatag town, Surigao del Sur, who claimed to have invested some P50 million, an issue that was even featured in the show of television personality Raffy Tulfo in 2021.

Village chief Josefino Pandeling Jr. of Barangay Antipolo in Marihatag, led a protest against Librado for failing to fulfill a committed payout in a “double-your-money” scheme for which his family invested P3 million.

Joseph Pandeling, Josefino’s son, told Tulfo then that Librado promised to return the sum by February 2021 but it did not happen. After the arrest, the two were brought to the Bislig district hospital for medical examination before they were detained at the police station. From there, they are expected to be transported to Medina where they will be presented before the court.

‘Embarrassing’ arrest

“[We have] always warned our citizens about investment scams, advising them not to be enticed and never become involved. Caraga police will pursue and apprehend perpetrators regardless of your title, as long as you have culpability in our law,” said Police Brig. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr., Caraga police director, in a statement.

Librado, who had served in various elective posts in the past 28 years, was reportedly in the middle of a community gathering in San Andres when the warrant was served.

Speaking over a local radio in Bislig on Friday, Navarro ally Isidro Peñanueva decried as politically motivated the “embarrassing” way that the vice governor was arrested.

“It (arrest) could have been in his house,” Peñanueva said.

Peñanueva said the investment run by the couple was not a scam. “It only went into some challenges because of the pandemic,” he explained.

Duped, too

In Davao City, police were also looking into a separate illegal investment scheme following complaints that the administrator absconded with their money.

Simplicio Sagarino, chief of the City Anti-Scam Unit, said the Securities and Exchange Commission Davao Extension Office informed them about the scheme that even its name — ”double your money” —already indicated it was a scam.

Just about two days after receiving the information, around 20 individuals went to the office to complain about it, said Sagarino.

He said the complainants told investigators that the transactions to invest or receive payouts were done inside a vehicle.

The complainants claimed that the fund administrator, who has yet to be identified, would tell them to wait for her advice on the payout schedule.

Initial investment was reportedly P20,000, which doubled in a week.

Some 100 individuals have come out to have been duped, Sagarino noted.

—WITH A REPORT FROM CARMELITO Q. FRANCISCO

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