The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that the ‘Mayaman Challenge,’ an online campaign led by Norman Mangusin, better known as Francis Leo Marcos, could be considered as an act of inciting to sedition.
In the latest radio interview of journalist Raffy Tulfo, NBI Cybercrime chief Vic Lorenzo said that they filed inciting to sedition charges against Marcos because of his viral online challenge, which aimed to encourage wealthy people to help the poor amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Lorenzo explained that some of the statements of Marcos in his blog encourage the poor people to hate and criticize wealthy people.
Marcos in some of his videos criticized the upper class including his neighbors in a posh subdivision in Quezon City.
He called the rich people who refused to join his ‘Mayaman Challenge’ as selfish for not helping the people.
“Para sa mga kapitbahay ko dito sa subdivision, para sa akin makasarili kayong lahat, kayong mga hindi tumutulong sa ating mamamayan,” Marcos said.
“They’re don’t after political power, they’re are after for economic gain, yun po yung totoo niyan, if they can sabotage the economy they will because they’re big player” he also stated.
Later on, it turned out that most of his neighbors already donated to the people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aside from inciting to sedition, Marcos is also facing charges for violating the anti-alias law for using the name Francis Leo Marcos instead of Norman Mangusin in signing documents.
It’s not yet known if the said charges were separate from the fake passport and falsification of documents.
Lorenzo also revealed that they discovered that Marcos was not telling his followers about the real amount of rice he’s giving.
“Talaga bang tumutulong siya? Kasi marami kaming reports na nareceive na supposedly ilang tons daw ang ibinibigay niya na bigas, hindi pala… ilang supot lang pala,” Lorenzo said.
“Vinerify namin ‘yung activity niya doon sa Santa Rosa, nag distribute daw siya ng tons of tons of rice, ‘yun pala sa isang fraternity lang pala niya ibinigay ‘yung mga bigas na ‘yon,” he added.
NBI said that Marcos was only giving 5-20 sacks of rice, too far from the figures that the businessman claimed.
NBI also urged the supporters of Marcos to become open-minded, saying that they’re only doing their job as law enforcers and not trying to single out the self-proclaimed businessman.
“Maging open minded lang ‘yung mga supporters niya o ‘yung mga naniniwala sa kanila na tignan din nila ‘yung mga other aspects, initiative ni Mr. Mangusin,” Lorenzo said.
Yesterday, NBI revealed that the properties shown by Marcos on his videos were not registered under his name, but owned by a certain businessman.
Marcos might also endure a long legal battle as NBI kept filing new charges against Marcos who’s now facing more than 9 cases.