DILG to village officials: report business scams

Interior Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III on Friday urged barangay officials to be more vigilant and proactive in monitoring investment schemes in their areas similar to that operated by Kapa Community Ministry International Inc., whose leaders had been accused of conning its members of billions of pesos in “donations.”

“The moment barangay officials receive information that somebody is organizing or recruiting people [for something] that involves money, they should report it to higher authorities so we can check if the operation is legal,” Densing said.

He said local officials must ensure that owners of investment companies had authorization from appropriate state agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Trade and Industry, before they were given a permit to operate.

Densing said Interior Secretary Eduardo Año would be issuing a department order directing local government units to guard against Ponzi schemes that enticed investors with unusually high interest rates.

“I engaged in the investment sector for 20 years and have never heard of a return of investment of 20 or 30 percent a month [as Kapa had promised]. That’s clearly a scam,” he said.