NBI exec says Ponzi scam brains may be from Tarlac

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The main suspect in the P12-billion Ponzi scheme that victimized some 15,000 people in the Visayas and Mindanao is a native of Tarlac, according to a National Bureau of Investigation official.

Aman Futures Group Philippines Inc. owner and president, Manuel Amalilio, had been presented as a Malaysian citizen in early reports.

“Although the main suspect in the Aman caper is from Tarlac, he (Amalillo) did not victimize his provincemates in Tarlac,” lawyer Ricardo Diaz, NBI director in Central Luzon, told the Inquirer on Wednesday.

Citing records, Diaz said no resident in Tarlac had filed a complaint for syndicated estafa against Amalilio. “He did not dirty up his own backyard,” Diaz said.

Amalilio is in hiding following the discovery of his Ponzi scheme. Scores of his victims have filed charges of syndicated estafa, a nonbailable crime, against him.

The NBI official said he was still gathering information to determine whether Amalilio was born and raised in Tarlac.

Gerona Mayor Dennis Go, president of the Tarlac Mayors’ League, said the group had “no concrete information yet” as to whether Amalilio was a Tarlac native.

Senior Supt. Alfred Corpus, Tarlac provincial director, said he has no report on Amalilio’s roots, political connections or involvement in cases of large-scale swindling in the province. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon