Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. has called for the creation of commercial trial courts to help suppress “pyramiding” and Ponzi scams that have so far hit more than a million Filipinos with over P25 billion in combined financial losses.
“The establishment of commercial courts is long overdue. Once we have the new courts in place, there’s no question a greater number of embezzlers will be put behind bars faster, and this in turn should help discourage other would-be swindlers,” Campos, a deputy minority leader, said in a statement on Sunday.
Under Campos’ House Bill No. 5339, commercial courts shall be established in every province or city in the country.
They shall have sole jurisdiction to hear and resolve all cases of investment fraud, as well as those involving theft of corporate funds; intellectual property violations; financial rehabilitation and liquidation; intra-corporate disputes; and violations of admiralty and maritime laws.
Under the bill, the trial of every case before a commercial court, once begun, shall be non-stop. The proceedings shall be completed within three months from the filing of a case. Judgment shall be delivered within 30 days from the submission of the case for decision.
Due to the lack of commercial courts, Campos said only two individuals have been convicted of investment fraud under the 16-year-old Securities Regulation Code, namely “pyramiding queen” Rosario Baladjay, who ran the Multinational Telecom Investors Corp. rip-off in the early 2000s, and Francisco Borromeo, who defrauded his clients at Asian Capital Equity Inc. from 1993 to 2003.
Baladjay and Borromeo were convicted in 2015 and 2013 respectively.
Campos said many investment scams that victimized tens of thousands of Filipinos remain unresolved.
These include the cases against Performance Investment Products Corp. and Aman Futures Group Philippines Inc., each of which had robbed some P12 billion from unsuspecting investors, as well as
the cases against the Legacy Group of Companies, Emgoldex Philippines, Forward Direct Selling Corp., One Lightning Corp., and Hyper Program International Direct Sales and Trading Corp., among others.