Kapa members withdraw suit, cite ‘donation’ to help ministry

MANILA, Philipppines — All three government witnesses have withdrawn their complaints against officials of Kapa Community Ministry International Inc. who were charged with large-scale estafa for allegedly running an investment scam.

The Kapa members, whom the National Bureau of Investigation asked not to be identified in news reports for security reasons, said that they willingly gave Kapa their money, totaling P575,000, as “donation,” without them being promised any return or reward by anyone from the ministry.

The three members, all Metro Manila-based, gave P500,000, P45,000 and P30,000, respectively, to Kapa Ministry between March 13 to June 3 this year.

In her affidavit of desistance written in Filipino, one of the Kapa members said that she gave money to Kapa “to help with expenses in carrying out [its] mission to help the less fortunate,” while another said that she joined the group “out of the desire to help others,” and voluntarily gave a donation without expecting anything in return.

The three members also said that they did not understand the complaint filed by the NBI against Kapa founder and president Joel Apolinario and 13 other officials on
July 8.

The NBI asked the justice department to prosecute the officials for eight counts of syndicated estafa and five counts of violation of the Securities Regulation Code for running a Ponzi scheme through their allegedly pseudo-religious organization.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also accused Apolinario and seven Kapa officials of illegally soliciting investments without a license

The NBI said that Kapa members were lured by the unrealistic promise of a monthly lifetime interest equivalent to 30 percent of their principal investment.

The other Kapa officials implicated were incorporators Nonita Urbano, Junnie Apolinario, Nelia Niño, Maria Pella Sevilla, Jouelyn Del Castillo, Cristobal Barabad and Joji Jusay; corporate secretary Reyna Apolinario; director/treasurer Modie Dagala; and directors Benigno Tipan, Jr., Marnilyn Maturan, Ricky Taer and Margie Danao.