ROXAS: PULL OUT ROOT OF INVESTMENT SCAMS
JAIL PONZI PERPETRATORS, PLUG LOOPHOLES IN LAW

Senator Mar Roxas reiterated his call for justice for those duped by investment scams, as he announced that the Senate Trade committee will conduct an inquiry Wednesday on the reported $250-million worth of investments in PIPC Corp. down the drain.

"The victims were supposedly enticed to invest at least P1.8 million*, on the promised earnings of 12%�at least P200,000�per year. Who would not be allured by this guaranteed windfall?" he said.

"Kailangang ikulong ang mga manloloko, tapalan ang lahat ng butas ng batas at palakasin ang ating mga ahensiya sa kapakanan ng mga konsyumer ng mga investment product katulad nitong sa PIPC," he said.

The Trade committee, which Roxas chairs, will be tackling two Senate Resolutions on the matter filed by Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Loren Legarda. The Senate Banks committee will also be part of the inquiry.

The inquiry was sought, after a PIPC official reportedly took off with $250-million worth of investments. Several PIPC investors have already filed their complaints with the National Bureau of Investigation.

PIPC is the local subsidiary of Performance Investment Products Corporation-BVI, an investment company based in the British Virgin Islands. But Roxas noted that the local PIPC is registered as a research company, which is not authorized to sell investment products.

"Such a glaring incongruity with the actual business practices PIPC was allegedly engaged in was somehow overlooked by both the authorities and by the investors. I would like to see how this happened," he said.

Roxas stressed that while it is important to bring the perpetrators to justice and to compensate the victims, necessary reforms must be put in place to plug whatever loopholes there are in pertinent laws.

"It must be established whether our existing laws are sufficient, and if not, what can be amended. What we are looking at are ways to make more transparent the process by which consumers enter into transactions," he said.

Also, he said agencies regulating investment instruments must be strengthened and their coordination must be tightened in order to beef-up their efforts against perpetrators of similar Ponzi schemes. Agencies regulating investment instruments are the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Insurance Commission and the Department of Trade and Industry.

He further said the government must ensure the implementation of rules on disclosure required of private companies, as well as ensuring the authenticity of documents provided to investors.

Among those invited to the hearings tomorrow are DTI Secretary Peter Favila, SEC Chairperson Fe Barin, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr., NBI Director Nestor Mantaring, as well as PIPC General Manager Cristina Gonzalez-Tuason and other PIPC officers.

*Initial minimum investment of $40,000