The Network of Positive Advocates of the Philippines, Inc. (also known as the Network Plus Philippines or N+) should be in hot water if the allegations of its recently-elected Chairperson of the Board of Trustees is to be believed, following his hasty resignation due to being “increasingly disillusioned with the culture of our organization, and the path that we seem to be taking.”
The chairperson – unnamed because he is not open/out as a person living with HIV (PLHIV) – was only elected into the post in April, but unexpectedly left his post after only two months, which should put N+ under a microscope as an extremely well-funded HIV-related organization of organizations.
Contained in his resignation letter, with Outrage Magazine getting a copy, were various allegations, particularly:
- “Lack of independence, where we subtly bend our principles to accommodate requests from funders.”
- “Gross mismanagement, ineptitude, and malversation within our organization.”
- “Willingness to turn a blind eye to these issues for the sake of maintaining a positive public image.”
Pressed to elaborate on the resignation, the now former N+ chairperson said that – among others – there are people in N+ that are given salaries and yet could not hand over deliverables, a “secret agreement” to lend the network’s money to a private individual, non-officials deciding on the flow of cash, and “weak leadership” unable to enforce policies or to make people accountable.
“Worst, totoo na meron (it is true that there are) certain people who would call the shots,” he added.
Outrage Magazine has already reached out to the vice chairperson, who is now the acting OIC, but he said he is still processing what happened, and will provide his position on this in time.
Outrage Magazine has similarly reached out to some of the funders of N+, including UNAIDS (via its Philippines Country Director Lui Ocampo’s Messenger) and Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. (via email to its communications manager Pauline Bello).
In a short message following the breaking of this story, Ocampo at first stated that he did not know about this development yet, but that he will get back to the publication when more information was gathered. Ocampo eventually sent a subsequent message stating that “the review of the financial books has been ongoing for a few months already. Based on the latest review as of June 26, all project funds have been accounted for.”**
No response was received from PSFI as of press time.
A member of the Board of Trustees informed Outrage Magazine that they are scheduled to meet, and an official statement will be released after the said meeting. This person, however, asked not to be named.*
“It is my hope that my resignation will serve as a wake-up call to address these issues head-on and steer our organization back towards the noble cause we initially set out to champion,” the former chairperson ended. – WITH STEPHEN CHRISTIAN P. QUILACIO
*The article was amended at 3:45PM of June 28 to include the input of a member of the Board of Trustees.
**The statement of UNAIDS Philippines Country Director Lui Ocampo was added at 6:12PM of June 28.
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY; UPDATES WILL BE MADE WHEN NEWER INFORMATION IS RECEIVED
