SEC revokes registration of firm recruiting ‘future millionaires’

Securities and Exchange Commission (RADYO INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

DAVAO CITY—The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revoked the registration of an investment company, which has a massive presence in Mindanao based on social media posts, for multiple violations.

The agency revoked the registration of iWATCH.PH Corp. for its “scheme (that) bears the hallmarks of an unlawful selling of unregistered securities-cum-pyramiding scheme” in an order dated Dec. 13.

Based on its order, the SEC said the entity was headed by Jerome Operio, Reiner Cadiz and Joseph Regalario, whose addresses were not known. In an audiovisual presentation posted on social media, Regalario was indicated as the company’s chief operating officer.

The entity has been luring people into its scheme by supposedly making them millionaires in the near future by simply following its template for earning. Its main office was reported to be in Quezon City but has extensive operation in the Davao and Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City) regions.

The SEC found that iWATCH.PH, among other companies, did not have any genuine product or service, did not demonstrate revenue from sales, highlighted “easy money or passive income,” required investors to “buy in” and emphasized recruitment.

The SEC had previously released an advisory in April this year saying the entity was not authorized “to engage in investment solicitation activities through the offering or selling for public sale securities in the form of investment contracts.”

Unregistered securities

It added that the entity was “offering or selling unregistered securities to the public and without the corresponding registration or license as a securities broker,” a violation of Section 44 of the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines.

That section of the law prohibits anyone from selling securities without the necessary licenses so the entity’s activities were “beyond the corporate powers conferred to it by the state and therefore constitute serious misrepresentation as to what the corporation can do.”

Such act, according to the SEC, creates “damage to the general public which is a ground for the revocation of a corporation’s primary franchise or certificate of registration.”

The agency also found out from the Bureau of Internal Revenue that the entity’s incorporators did not have valid taxpayer identification numbers (TINs).

“The employment of invalid and false TINs in order to acquire registration with the commission is tantamount to fraud in the procurement of the certificate of incorporation which is a valid ground for the revocation of the said Certificate pursuant to Section 6(i)(1) of PD (Presidential Decree) 902-A,” it added.

‘Ads Wallets’ and ‘iTokens’

Based on the SEC advisory, a prospective investor were asked to pay P2,188 to become an iWatcher, which would allow him to receive six “executive soaps,” “50 iTokens and 50 iCredits.”

The iTokens can be used in watching videos and that with an iToken, P10 would be added to the investor’s “Ads Wallet,” while the iCredits would be used in sharing videos and that with an iCredit, P1 would be added to the investor’s “Account Balance.”

The investors can accumulate a maximum of 2,500 iCredits, or P2,500, and can receive 625 iTokens for 25 days. The catch, however, was that the Ads Wallet cannot be converted into cash if the investors were not able to recruit.

Among others, the iWatcher can earn P200 per recruit and P500 will be deducted from the Ads Wallet, which will be transferred to one’s available balance, indicating conversion into cash.

The iWatchers would get to earn more for as long as they continued to recruit and those whom they recruited would also recruit.

In Mindanao, the company has been aggressively recruiting in the Davao and Soccsksargen regions since early this year.

Among others, it has highlighted the supposed success story of a certain JM Canete whom it presented as its first millionaire, achieving the feat in nine months.

On social media, the company introduced itself as “an advertising platform and online business that gives Filipinos a lifetime reason to survive with 32 ways of earning.”