11 MMG International Holdings Co. officials charged

Bacolod City prosecutor Augustus Rallos filed last Wednesday 58 counts of estafa against 11 officials of the controversial pyramiding firm MMG International Holdings Co. Ltd.

But the case did not only involve estafa; it was for syndicated estafa involving an alleged investment scam.

Rallos filed the charges against the 11 in the Regional Trial Court of Bacolod.

Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, recently proclaimed as councilor-elect of Bacolod, said she will also file forfeit claims against MMG with the Anti-Money Laundering Council. The claims will involve about P24.8 million.

Rallos said most of the victims are retirees or people who had invested their hard-earned money, succumbing to the lure of the firm’s dangled high returns on investments.

Briefly, that move by the government prosecutor diverted public attention from the protest filed by Mayor Luzviminda Valdez with the Comelec Manila office seeking the annulment of the proclamation of Mayor-elect Bing Leonardia.

Being talked about in Bacolod are the identities of the victims, many of them retired government and private employees.

The firm’s bigwigs charged were Ervin Mateo, incorporator-chairman of the board; Evelyn Mateo, finance director; Galileo Saporsantos, marketing director; Nenito Saporsantos, director for accounts/documentation; and Carmelita Galvez, executive director for finance.

Also included were Romeo Esteban, director for engineering; Joselito Zapanta, vice president for capitalization; Felizardo Bauren, area head for the Visayas and Mindanao; Jessica Barrosa Castro, authorized signatory of checks; Stephen Jan Balazuela, client relations officer; and Napoleon Saron.

Rallos dropped from the case Madonna Grace Medal, Bacolod OIC; Rosalie Belecina, documentation and client relations officer; and Mary Jean Pabon, accounts and documentation officer.

Rallos said the three were not just employees of the firm who were unaware of the scheme, but were also victims themselves.

The complainants, according to prosecutor Rallos, were enticed by the respondents to invest unlimited cash. The promised interest rates ranged from 2.5 to three percent a month. Since these were much higher than those given by banks, they were naturally enticing.

The firm’s officials also promised them guaranteed profits and gave assurances that their investments would be returned to them in six months to as long as five years.

Rallos observed that the despite the cease-and-desist order of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the MMG continued soliciting and receiving big investments from the unsuspecting public.

The scam was exposed when MMG’s checks to investors started to bounce.

Lawyer Batapa-Sigue also said she will elevate Rallos’ resolutions to the Department of Justice for review by its composite team created to handle all investment scams.

That, however, failed to ease the heartaches and anguish of the victims when they discovered that they had been taken for a ride. One of them, a retired employee of a drug firm, tearfully recounted to me how she was reduced to borrowing money from friends and relatives to be able to keep up with the payments for her house.

There are many more sob tales of the investment scam victims. They should compel the government to crack down hard on the corporate officers who preyed on the unsuspecting, most of them losing their lifetime savings to the pyramiding schemes of these firms.

Comelec Official’s Side

Comelec Bacolod officer Daisy Real explained yesterday that the lawyers of Mayor Luzviminda Valdez failed to observe the proper procedure in seeking the postponement of the proclamation of Mayor-elect Evelio Leonardia.

Defending herself from a series of blasts from Valdez on television, lawyer Real pointed out that the petition should have been submitted in writing and the reasons clearly defined.

However, she said, the contested precincts’ combined votes could not affect the result of the canvassed returns.

She also said the petition or appeal for nullification of the proclamation of Leonardia had been submitted to the Comelec en banc.

But Real hinted that all throughout the time that the board of canvassers was counting the votes, she was constantly in touch with Commissioner Resurrection Borra for legal advice on her decisions.

That, however, did not stop Valdez from continuing her tirades against Real and the city board of canvassers which included city prosecutor Rallos.

Adoniram Pamplona, Valdez’s counsel, claimed the total number of contested votes involves 47,000 from about 300 precincts. That, he said, would have definitely affected the vote total in the mayoralty race.

Valdez, however, clearly stipulated her desire for Vice Mayor-elect Renecito Novero to take over her post when the Comelec rules favorably on her petition to nullify Leonardia’s proclamation.

Leonardia posted a 5,869 vote lead over Valdez and was proclaimed Monday morning by the board of canvassers.

Valdez’s televised statement confirmed wild rumors prior to the proclamation of an alleged plan to see to it that Novero would sit as acting mayor.

Although cryptic, Novero also defended last Wednesday Valdez’s right to contest Leonardia’s votes and proclamation by citing the grounds mentioned by her lawyers.

Well, the only thing that Bacolodnons can now do is wait for the outcome of Valdez’s appeal. She was the official Lakas bet for the city’s top post.

The report that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may be convinced to hold her inaugural in either Cebu or Iloilo City also provoked some of her Negrense supporters to propose Bacolod instead as an alternative.

But, of course, Senate President Franklin Drilon is expected to be able to convince her that Iloilo would be the best choice. She won by over a million votes in Panay Island. And her margin in Iloilo City actually amounted to 70 percent of the total number of votes.

In Negros Occidental, however, the most amazing thing was that despite the defection to Fernando Poe Jr. and the KNP of Gov. Joseph Marañon, his brother Congressman Alfredo and 15 mayors, plus three other solons, GMA managed to garner a 250,000 margin over FPJ.

In short, GMA supporters here are hoping, even if that has a slim chance, that she may finally pick this province as her inaugural venue.