Remember, if an investment sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) announced today that it has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to sack three high-ranking police officers because they were implicated in a multi-billion peso investment scam.
DILG’s spokesman and undersecretary Jonathan Malaya identified the three cops from the Soccsksargen region in Mindanao as Police Colonel Manuel Lukban Jr., Police Colonel Raul Supiter, and Police Lieutenant Colonel Henry Biñas, Rappler reported.
The three men were allegedly behind an investment scheme called Pulis Paluwagan Movement (PPM), which victimized other police officers and their families. The scam also attracted prosecutors, judges, entrepreneurs, and ordinary civilians, reported GMA News.
The scam allegedly ran in General Santos City as well as nearby towns, reported ABS-CBN News. As much as PHP2 billion (US$38.15 million) were allegedly taken from its victims, who were attracted by what it offered — a very attractive interest rate of 60 percent every 15 days.
That means if someone invested PHP1,000 (US$19.07), they would get PHP1,600 back (US$30.51) after 15 days.
The promise, however, turned out to be empty because according to Malaya, the investors never got their money back.
Malaya said that the alleged ringleaders greatly benefitted from the scam. He said: “In a span of few months, the PNP personnel involved in this scam acquired multiple assets and they have issued checks [to their investors] that cannot be encashed due to [the] insufficiency of funds in the bank accounts of PPM.”
Malaya said that the three police officers need to be relieved so they don’t get involved with an upcoming investigation on the case.
The DILG official also warned other police officers about PPM.
“I want [police officers from] the other regions to know of this scam so that they do not fall prey to a similar scheme. Let this [also] serve as a warning to them that the DILG-PNP will not tolerate any wrongdoing among our ranks,” Malaya said.
