Mayors ordered to revoke Kapa permits

DAVAO CITY—The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has ordered all local chief executives to immediately cancel the business permits given to Kapa Community Ministry International Inc. offices operating in their localities.

Alex Roldan, DILG-XI regional director, said on Friday that Interior Secretary Eduardo Año issued the directive on Thursday.

The memorandum order said that in view of the controversy involving Kapa’s alleged illegal investment scheme in the guise of donations, it became necessary for Año, as DILG secretary, to exercise his oversight power over local chief executives.

The directive directed all of the country’s town and city mayors to “refrain from issuing business permits in favor of Kapa Community Ministry International Inc., its allied subsidiaries and organizations and cancel/revoke outstanding business permits.”

Año pointed to a decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revoke Kapa’s certificate of registration “for serious misrepresentation” and President Duterte’s order to the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation to shut down the group’s operation.

Roldan said any local official who would refuse to implement the DILG order would be made to answer to President Duterte.

Kapa had set up offices in various towns and cities, first in Mindanao, and then in the Visayas and Luzon, where members made “donations” and for which they received “cash gifts” equivalent to about 30 percent of the amount they had contributed as monthly interest.

The President ordered the closure of Kapa, saying it was liable for syndicated estafa for engaging in a pyramiding scam and was violating securities laws.

The SEC said Kapa was running a Ponzi scheme in which existing investors are paid with funds from new investors.