PAOCC gets over 47,400 complaints vs abusive online lending apps

MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said on Monday that it received 47,446 complaints about the allegedly abusive behavior of some companies operating online lending applications between August 2024 and January 2026.

“What is painful about this is that there are reports that many of our fellow Filipinos are suffering from depression. They don’t know how to pay off their debts,” PAOCC Executive Director Benjamin Acorda Jr. said at a press briefing in Camp Crame.

Earlier, Acorda signed a memorandum of agreement with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, to strengthen its campaign against illegal online activities.

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“There are some instances wherein instead of being able to pay off their debt, it just balloons,” the PAOCC official said.

CICC Executive Director Aboy Paraiso, who was also at the press briefing, told reporters that he met with officials of the Online Lending Association of the Philippines to discuss the issue.

Questionable practices

He said that online lending applications, provided these are legitimate and abide by the law, contribute greatly to economic activity and help needy Filipinos.

However, questionable practices have been rampant among some companies operating online lending applications, which may lead to overall distrust in the system, Paraiso noted.

He said that they would go after those apps that operate without a license, or practice abusive collection behavior, or use misrepresentation or manipulation in their systems.

“But the public should remember this: It does not absolve you. This is not a way for you to escape from paying your debts,” Paraiso said. /cb