Kapa Ministry’s ‘donor’ seeks P3B in damages, wants Duterte impeached

A “donor” of Kapa Community Ministry International Inc. is seeking P3 billion in damages for having been listed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an unregistered investment entity.

In a 20-page petition received by Supreme Court’s Office of the Clerk of Court on June 21, Rhema International Livelihood Foundation Inc. also asked that Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Emilio Aquino be dismissed from office.

Rhema likewise asked for its online platform Cirfund to be “expunged” from the SEC’s list of unregistered investment entities, and for Kapa, which the president had ordered closed, to be able “to resume their religious activity.”

In a 20-page petition, Rhema is seeking from the Supreme Court to enforce the law and exercise a status quo without the need for a hearing as provided under Section 3 of Republic Act 5440.

The petition asked the court to:

“Let all private respondents—Rodrigo R. Duterte and Chairman Emilio B. Aquino, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—pay the compensatory damages amounting to P3,000,000,000.00 for destroying Cirfund, an online platform project of Rhema International Livelihood Foundation Inc. and be dismissed from office and the President be submitted for an impeachment proceedings for culpable violation of Art. II Sec. 6 and Art. III known as the Bill of Rights of the Philippine Constitution.”

On June 8, Duterte ordered the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to shut down Kapa as an investment scam.

Cirfund is “only a name of a special project” which has the power “to receive donations and to release disbursements based on the receiver’s needs,” according to Rhema’s petition.

“Cirfund, however, is in fear of being treated like the Kapa Ministry when this entity is a special project of Rhema International Livelihood Foundation Inc., a licensed foundation accredited with DSWD and LGU units like in Metro Manila and Rizal Province,” according to the petition signed by lawyer Engracio Icasiano.

A May 31, 2019 advisory by the SEC lists Cirfund as one of the 22 unregistered investment entities that it says solicit investments through social media. “The commission is issuing this advisory to help investors be better aware of fraudulent investment schemes that may involve social media.”

The SEC earlier accused Kapa of having amassed wealth through an investment scheme in the guise of religious donations. The commission has filed before the Department of Justice a complaint against the organization for violating the Securities Regulation Code.

Several banks have frozen more than P100 million in Kapa assets after the Court of Appeals issued a freeze order earlier this month. —VDS, GMA News