ROXAS: FREEZE ASSETS OF DELOS ANGELES
FILE CRIMINAL RAPS, SEC TOLD

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must take steps to freeze all properties of Legacy Group owner Celso Delos Angeles and officials of his companies and file criminal charges against them to protect the public victimized by Legacy's questionable banking practices, Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas said today.

In a letter to SEC chairperson Fe Barin, Roxas said the government should investigate all transactions undertaken by De los Angeles months before the dissolution of Legacy Group's operations, including the sale of his home in plush Ayala Alabang for P57 million which he acknowledged when he appeared in a recent Senate hearing.

He said the Department of Justice must also issue a hold departure order against De los Angeles and officials of his Legacy group of companies to prevent them from fleeing possible criminal prosecution.

"Mahalaga na protektahan natin ang publikong naglagay ng pinaghirapan nilang pera sa Legacy. Paano natin matutulungan silang ma-recover ang kanilang pera kung naitakbo na lahat? (It is important to protect the public that put their hard earned money in Legacy. How can we help them recover their money if they have been dissipated?)," he said.

Roxas, chair of the Senate trade and commerce committee, said the Senate will continue its investigations to ensure the rest of the pre-need industry could propose their own solutions to the financial mess that the industry is facing.

De los Angeles has been invited anew to testify on his companies' operations, which Roxas said the Senate's first hearing on the issue showed the the weakness of government regulation and shoddy business practices by pre-need firms that take advantage of consumers.

The Ilonggo senator said he is disappointed that the SEC failed to act decisively on the industry's problems, especially Legacy's

"The government has not taken any effective action to protect the interest of plan holders. Specifically, your Commission has been remiss in its duty to regulate the industry and safeguard the public interest," he wrote.

Roxas said the SEC must file charges of syndicated estafa and violation of the Securities Regulation Code (Republic Act No. 8799) against the businessman and all other persons liable for the bankruptcy of the Legacy Group companies.

"The elements of the crime of Syndicated Estafa are all present in the acts committed by the Legacy Group, through its owner Celso de los Angeles and its officials. They have defrauded at least 50,000 plan holders by posing as a group possessing the capability and capacity to assume and honor its contractual obligations and inducing the plan holders to part with their hard-earned money based on deceptive schemes and vain promises," he explained.

He said it was also clear that De los Angeles and the other Legacy bank officials violated the Securities Regulation Code when they engaged in questionable practices, such as falsification of public and commercial documents, fictitious deposits, and rotating collateral from one bank to the other.

The Securities Regulations Code declares unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, in connection with the purchase or sale of any securities to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud, and to engage in any act, transaction, practice or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person.