NBI raids religious group’s office after Duterte order

NBI-7 agents and police officers serve a search warrant to Kapa community Ministry International Inc. Cebu branch at Compostela town, Cebu and confiscate their documents, computers, and other items after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a closure of the offices. The office was allegedly robbed and burned down last Saturday June 8,2019. (INQ PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

CEBU CITY—The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday (June 10) raided the compound housing the offices of a religious group which President Duterte had tagged in a pyramid scam.

NBI agents served a search warrant on the offices of Kapa Community Ministry International in Compostela town, Cebu province.

The warrant was issued upon request of the NBI to allow the collection of evidence in connection with allegations that the group was into pyramiding and violated securities laws.

Bienvenido Panican, NBI special investigator, said no official of Kapa was around when the warrant was served. The entire compound, he said, appeared to have been abandoned when the agents went in to search.

Only a cook at the canteen was there, Panican said.

He, however, said agents were able to gather pieces of evidence that could prove that Kapa operated as a securities seller without authority from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Among those found were membership forms, donation documents, streamers made of tarpaulin and boxes of members’ data, Panican said.

The agents also collected documents soiled during the fire that was set by unidentified gunmen who attacked the Kapa offices just days ago and robbed the group’s employees.

Two of three buildings in the compound, a former beach resort, were razed during the attack.

Panican, leader of the NBI team that raided Kapa, said the operation was in response to Duterte’s order to shut down Kapa for operating a pyramid scheme which involved members giving donations of as little as P30 for a monthly profit of 30 percent.

Police accompanied the NBI agents during the raid which started around noon. Some two hours later, an employee of the municipal government of Compostela went to the site and placed a tarpaulin streamer announcing the closure of the only Kapa office in Cebu province.

NBI-7 agents and police officers serve a search warrant to Kapa community Ministry International Inc. Cebu branch at Compostela town, Cebu and confiscate their documents, computers, and other items after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a closure of the offices. The office was allegedly robbed and burned down last Saturday June 8,2019. (INQ PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)