Pasig City’s Regional Trial Court found incorporator John Rafael Calicdan and secretary Ryan Manuit guilty of violating the Securities Regulation Code on Oct. 1, 2024.
Calicdan and Manuit face up to 10 years in prison and must each pay P500,000 in fines. The court ruled that PIHPC, under its operators, illegally sold unregistered securities without a licensed broker.
Unlicensed investments
“Under the scheme, the public are encouraged to invest at least P36,500 in its gold investment program, in exchange for guaranteed earnings of up to P182,500,” the SEC said.
“Investors are required to recruit at least two more people to make similar investments until they complete the exit table of hierarchy which consists of 15 slots,” it added.
Name changes
Despite SEC warnings, PIHPC continued its unregistered activities under new names, including Global Intergold.
“Although the Articles of Incorporation of PIPHC bore the signatures of both accused Calicdan and Manuit, they denied being the incorporators of the company and merely averred that they signed the same without understanding its consequences, which is highly unlikely given their participation in the operations of the corporation after its incorporation,” the court held.
“Thus, there can be no doubt that both accused participated in recruiting investors and in the activities of the PIPHC when it dealt with securities without any registration or license from the SEC,” it added.
