COURAGE yet to account for SWEAP members’ monthly dues

From the Philippine News Agency (Apr 11, 2021): COURAGE yet to account for SWEAP members’ monthly dues (By Marita Moaje)

Audrie Perez, former president of Social Welfare Employees Association of the Philippines in Region 11 (Screengrab from NTF ELCAC virtual press conference on April 7, 2021)

Labor group Confederation for Unity Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) still has not acted on a request by a former official of Social Welfare Employees Association of the Philippines (SWEAP) for a full account of where the members’ monthly dues went.

In a recent virtual press conference, Audrie Perez, former president of the Department of Social Welfare and Development 11 SWEAP, said they have been asking COURAGE to account for how the monthly dues paid by their members were used.

COURAGE's inaction, among other issues, prompted SWEAP to disaffiliate from the former on Jan. 14, 2021.

Perez, who is the former focal person for indigenous peoples of DSWD 11, said SWEAP was under the umbrella of COURAGE for 20 years and had thousands of members who regularly paid membership dues.

He lamented that more than a year after the disaffiliation, nobody from COURAGE has given them an explanation.

“Yung former national president namin na si Mr Larry Baclagon, who is now the secretary-general of COURAGE, during his time hinahanapan namin sila ng report, saan napupunta ang funds ng association? Hindi nila makita (During the time of former national president Mr. Larry Baclagon, now the secretary-general of COURAGE, we were looking for a report. Where did the association funds go? They cannot find it),” Perez said.

He clarified that though he is no longer connected with SWEAP nor the DSWD 11 as he resigned from his job as the regional IP focal person effective March 15, he gets updates from fellow SWEAP members.

Perez, who also resigned as president of SWEAP Davao Chapter and as vice president for Mindanao, said his representation is based on his personal capacity, knowledge, and experiences.

He said each of the more than 10,000 SWEAP members paid PHP5 monthly dues, of which PHP2 was remitted to COURAGE, and the remaining PHP3 goes to the SWEAP national council.

COURAGE, he claimed, has so many underground activities that most members do not know.

With money issues hounding COURAGE, Perez said he believes the SWEAP funds were used for the former’s underground activities like rallies, instead of for its members’ welfare.

As a government employee, he said, he cannot accept that funds coming from workers of the government, which came from government funds, are being used to destroy the very same government.

He added that they already made a formal request with the previous administration of SWEAP to issue full authority to an audit team that will look into the issue and COURAGE’s financial records.

He went on to say that even the liquidation records of the funds in question are now missing.

Cover-up?

For more than a year now, the investigation has not moved forward, and they are skeptical that cover-ups are being done, he said.

“Kasi kung ayaw takpan ng nakaupong national president bakit hindi magbigay ng full authority dun sa mag audit para at least masilip natin yung libro kung saan napunta yung pera (Because if indeed there is no cover-up by the current national president, why can’t they issue a full authority to those who will do the audit so we can at least look at the records and see where the money was spent),” Perez said.

During the time of Baclagon, he claimed SWEAP members’ health maintenance organization (HMO) dues, amounting to millions of pesos, have not been paid despite deductions from the members Collective Negotiation Agreement funds intended for the said purpose.

He urged Baclagon to act on fellow SWEAP members’ request to clear his name.

SWEAP became an affiliate of COURAGE in 2000 after its leadership passed a National Council Resolution 007. During SWEAP’s fourth-quarter national council meeting in December 2020, it agreed that a vote of two-thirds from all the members of the national council is required for the move to disaffiliate.

Association members question money matters and activities “being engaged into” by COURAGE thus, the evaluation of their affiliation.

SWEAP national president and concurrent National Capital Region (NCR) chapter president Alan Balaba led the signing of the resolution of SWEAP’s withdrawal from COURAGE – an umbrella organization of labor unions in different government agencies, is one of the organizations under the Makabayan bloc.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Ferdinand Gaite, he said, also served as president of COURAGE.

During the 9th national congress of COURAGE IN 2010, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison, in a message, lauded the organization's gains, adding that COURAGE is a founding member of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) where he currently serves as chairperson emeritus.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier backed the military's assertion that Makabayan bloc organizations are fronts of the CPP–New People’s Army, a listed terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1136379