Jose Tomas Syquia, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Compliance and Enforcement Department, said the SEC’s request for the issuance of a hold-departure order had already been granted. "The hold-departure order was signed by the acting secretary of the DOJ," he said.
The hold-departure order prevents the directors and incorporators of MMG from fleeing the country and ignoring claims filed against them by around 20,000 investors.
Listed as incorporator-directors of MMG are Ervin Mateo, Evelyn Mateo, Galileo Saporsantos, Carmelita Galvez, Romeo Esteban, Brenda Baarde, Nenita Saporsantos, Tirso Petil, Emma Sacro and Estella Ledesma.
The SEC has been deluged by complaints from disgruntled investors of MMG, who claimed that the firm failed to pay promised interests and return principal investments back.
The company offers an annual interest rate of 36 percent for a minimum investment of P50,000. Its head office is located at the Madrigal Business Park in Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City.
MMG (formerly known as Mateo Management Group Holding Co.) was issued a cease-and-desist order on April 1, 2002 for selling unregistered shares in violation of the Securities Regulation Code. The firm’s motion to lift the CDO was denied by the SEC on April 18, virtually making the order permanent.
Despite the existing CDO, MMG reportedly continues to accept investments from the public, most of them located in Cavite, Ayala Alabang, Bacolod, Baguio, Batangas, Bulacan, Cagayan de Oro, Cainta, Rizal, Dagupan, Pampanga, Davao, Iloilo, Las Piñas and Albay.
MMG has also reportedly gypped investors from San Diego, California, Hong Kong, and Brunei.
The SEC is urging other victims who have been defrauded by MMG to come out in the open and file the appropriate charges against the company’s officers.