‘They’ll get their money back’

Suspected pyramiding scam suspect Rosario Baladjay and the others involved in dubious investment schemes assured yesterday the Senate that they would repay their investors soon.

This developed as Senator Robert Jaworski, chairman of the committee on trade and commerce, urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to create a reward scheme that would give "tipsters" reward money, ranging from P1 million to P5 million, for information leading to the arrest of other pyramiding suspects still at large.

Appearing before the Senate yesterday, Baladjay, owner of Multitel Corp., along with Ervin Mateo of the Mateo Management Group and Ma. Teresa Santos of Maria Teresa Santos Trading, said they are consolidating their assets for possible repayment schemes.

"This is a welcome development, but I still have to say I want to see it before I believe it. Mr. Mateo wants an executive briefing, at least, as to where his properties are, what businesses are still ongoing and per information he relayed. He just does not want to mention this openly because there are people that are just too close to the properties and might take action for their own personal advantage," Jaworski said.

Baladjay, Santos and Mateo requested the senator to conduct next week an executive session, where they would reveal all their assets and properties to be used in paying investors.

"I expect that to happen in the coming days. What we might want to extend to the public though is the fact that scams continue. If presented with ‘too good to be true’ interest rates for investments, think a thousand fold first, check with the Security and Exchange Commission, check with the Department of Trade and Industry, and, better still, talk to somebody knowledgeable about investment so that they can guide you," Jaworski said.

Also summoned but were no-shows at yesterday’s hearing were Liborio Elacio, comptroller of the Tibayan Group of Companies; husband and wife Felix and Irish Aquino, owners of the Everflow Group of Companies, a conduit of Multitel; and Guadencio Macimo, owner of the Lead Lending Corp.

He said Elacio, the Aquino couple and Macimo will be held in contempt by the Senate.

"I will be preparing documents to cite them in contempt. If they don’t come up with an acceptable explanation within a reasonable time, then appropriate actions will be undertaken," Jaworski said.

He said that apart from Baladjay, Mateo and Santos, there are 20 other suspects involved in the scam. Their whereabouts are still being determined by the National Bureau of Investigation.

"There are many principal suspects whose whereabouts remain unknown. So I thought it’s wise to make representations with the DOJ for the creation of a reward scheme for those who can directly point to the whereabouts of suspects, resulting in their arrest," Jaworski said.

He said the reward will be taken from money recovered by the authorities from pyramiding suspects.

Baladjay, who is detained at the Makati City Jail for being the prime suspect in a P20-billion pyramid scam that allegedly victimized more than one million people, was allowed to leave early from the Senate after she submitted a medical certificate stating her illness.

" I vomitted last night and I am not in a position to testify because I am not feeling well. I am willing to return all the investment of our investors. I also want to request that all assets that I own which were earlier frozen be reactivated so I can use them to repay my investors," Baladjay said.

Mateo, who is detained at Camp Crame is accused of duping more than 950 people. The Everflow Group, on the other hand, allegedly swindled more than P700 million from victims while Lead Lending Corp. reportedly collected some P900 million from 1,500 victims. The Tibayan Group allegedly raked in P505 million and $812,000 from 30,000 investors.