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Filipino social entrepreneur Louise Mabulo is seeking to have Nas Daily founder Nuseir Yassin declared persona non grata in the Philippines.
A "persona non grata" status applied to an individual would officially ban the person from entering the country.
This was after a complaint was filed by an unnamed private citizen about recent exchanges between Yassin and Mabulo, which led to the matter being escalated to the Commission on Human Rights - Bicol (CHR) in the Philippines.
Mabulo meeting with CHR
Mabulo is the founder of Cacao Project, a cacao farming initiative in Camarines Sur.
She posted on Facebook on Tuesday, August 10, photos of her meeting with representatives from CHR.
What discussion was about
She wrote that it was to discuss Yassin’s allegations against the Cacao Project and her, and regarding the agency’s official investigation “on the recent issues surrounding the exploitation against me and the farmers here perpetuated by some vlogger”.
Mabulo asked the CHR for assistance to reach out to the national government and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to have Yassin declared persona non grata.
What led to CHR being involved?
According to Rappler, the CHR was alerted to the whole issue after social media users began tagging the organisation's page in posts on Facebook, prompting the investigation
Mabulo told Rappler that there was also “a formal letter from a private citizen sent to several agencies including the CHR” that spurred the case.
Mabulo declined to comment further as the investigation is ongoing.
The CHR is preparing its report, but has yet to speak to Yassin.
A petition has been put up calling for Yassin to be deemed a persona non grata in the Philippines.
It has attracted more than 18,000 signatures so far.
What Yassin said previously
Yassin had accused Cacao Project of being a "fake story" after he flew to the Philippines to find out more about Mabulo and her initiative.
He eventually did not make a video about the project and kept silent about it for two years.
Yassin ended up declaring that there were "no 200 farmers" on the farm as he had seen publicised about in other media reports.
But he was prompted to make these claims after Mabulo first accused him of behaving badly while in the Philippines.
Mabulo hurled accusations at Yassin first
The first shot in this exchange was fired by Mabulo on Aug. 5.
In response, Yassin's accusations came as part of his response to these claims by Mabulo.
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Top photos via Louise Mabulo & Nas Daily