The Department of Justice has finally filed estafa cases against the officials, agents and other leading members of the Kapa Ministry. This we learned from television reports broadcast yesterday over ANC Network of the ABS-CBN group.
After almost a year since the alleged investment scam was brought to light, we wonder if the Justice Department will still have some warm bodies to present in the court hearing for trial. The alleged founder of the Ponzi style investment scam, a certain Pastor Joel Apolinario, was never reported to have been arrested by any of the government’s law enforcement bodies. This is happening in spite of the fact that every now and then he managed to contact some media outlets supposedly to give his side on the issue.
We can only assume that the hundreds of millions of pesos of his alleged illegal activities have gypped the many gullible among us could have helped him and his immediate family members out of the sights and reach of law enforcers.
It is even possible that some of the Kapa beneficiaries in the ranks of policemen and the military could be facilitating his having eluded arrest.
Meanwhile we still have to receive or read reports of any of the Kapa founder and officers’ properties being taken position by the government to guarantee refund of the money invested by the scammers’ hapless victims.
But the very thing we could not understand is the continued expectation of the Kapa investors that the religious organization cum scam proponent would one day soon re-operate and give them the pay-outs as well as their invested money.
And then there are still other similar groups that have surfaced and using another approach to mulct money from the vulnerable sector of our population.
One of these is that group in Surigao del Norte that converges in a 24-hectare land of its founder. The group declares itself as an independent nation. It is even printing their own paper currency claiming that it would become a legal tender once approved by the finance authorities.
An interview conducted on its spokesman by the staff of Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho (KMJS) says that his group is not collecting any membership fee. But he admitted encouraging the members and those who would want to join to buy the paper money because it will not be long that they can use it to buy the things they need.
And wow, there are still a good number of people coming from different parts of the Visayas and Mindanao trooping to that town in Surigao to become members.
Indeed how some glib-tongued individuals make many of us believers of their uncanny money-making strategy?
********************
Davao City, the birth place of President Rodrigo Duterte’s hard-fisted campaign against illegal and addictive drugs, appears to be still far from a totally drug-free city.
This can be gleaned from the recent illegal drugs buy-busts, arrests and even death of one pusher who allegedly shot it out with arresting policemen and PDEA operatives.
We agree with some arguments that those nabbed for illegal drugs possession and/or trading may not be residents of Davao City. Like the couple who were arrested in Buda after they attempted to sell some half a million pesos worth of shabu to a police asset.
They claimed they were from Lanao del Sur and that they were only hired to deliver the illegal drugs to a buyer in Davao City. But whatever, whoever and from wherever they are we could only conclude one thing on the series of drugs buy busts. That is, that Davao City remains a major market of the illegal drugs; that there are consumers in the city or that there are safe facilities to do transshipments of the contraband items.
We can only hope that the law enforcement authorities in Davao City can trace the main sources of the drugs and the primary local consignees. For as long as there are demands there will always be supply that will come in. And for as long as supplies are available demands will always come along.
Will this drugs situation in Davao City persist until President and former city mayor Duterte’s retirement?
