Bohol Vice Governor Dionisio Victor Balite has dismissed the accusation that his wife and the wife of Valencia Mayor Neil Balite are the administrators of the Repa Scam, a fraudulent scheme that allegedly duped thousands of Boholanos.
In a privilege speech during the regular session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) on Feb. 21, Balite said that the allegation was made by the Facebook page The Bohol Monitor, which he claimed was spreading false and malicious information.
Balite said that he was the one who exposed the Repa Scam in 2021, when he delivered another privilege speech in the SP, naming an official in the Capitol as one of the protectors of the scam.
He said that he would not have initiated the investigation if his wife or any of his relatives were involved in the scam, which promised high returns to investors who bought Repa slots.
He also said that he and his family were not scammers who took money from the poor, and that he wanted to put an end to the scams that have harmed and victimized the Boholanos.
The SP referred Balite’s privilege speech to the Committee of the Whole for further investigation, and Balite urged the committee to coordinate with the law enforcement agencies to stop and prevent the scams.
Balite also said that he will inhibit himself from the probe because he was the one who raised the issue.
REPA IN BOHOL
Repa Scam is a fraudulent scheme that allegedly duped thousands of people in the Philippines by promising high returns to investors who bought Repa coins.
Repa or Repa Paluwagan is an unregistered entity that has no authority to solicit investments from the public, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Repa’s operation is a Ponzi scheme, which is defined as an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by the new investors.
Repa Scam operates in Bohol, Davao, Bukidnon and Cebu, and has caused an estimated loss of P7 billion to more than 1,000 victims.
Repa scam has been under investigation by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Bohol provincial government.