NBI arrests co-accused of ‘pyramiding queen’ Baladjay

By VIRGIL LOPEZ, GMA News

Published January 23, 2018 1:18pm
Updated January 23, 2018 4:16pm

Government agents have arrested one of the co-accused of Rosario Baladjay, who was convicted in connection with a phony investment scheme.

Randy Rubio was apprehended on January 19 by the elements of the National Bureau of Investigation Technical Intelligence Division (NBI-TID) in Cabanatuan City on the strength of the arrest warrant for syndicated estafa issued by the Makati City Regional Trial Court.

Rubio, who was identified in the Supreme Court decision on Baladjay's conviction as an officer of the Multinational Telecom Investors Corporation (Multitel), was arrested after attending a religious gathering.

He was taken to the NBI headquarters in Manila where he underwent booking procedures and subsequently detained.

Rubio's niece, Renee Anne Rubio, denied that his uncle was an officer of Multitel and involved in illegal activities.

"Rose Baladjay and other people were the incorporators of Multitel. If you asked a lawyer what makes someone an officer of a company his signature must appear in the incorporation paper. A real estate broker who brokers for a company is not even an officer of the company," she told GMA News Online.

She said her uncle is one of the victims of the pyramiding scam.

"My uncle helped investors organize a meeting so they can hear from Mrs. Baladjay because he wanted his money back, too," Renee Anne said.

Baladjay started with her lending activities as early as 1988, when contributions ranged from P2,000 to P10,000. Monthly interest offered to contributors around the time was 1.08 percent or 12 percent per annum.

In turn, Baladjay lent the money she collected to businessmen with a 2.5-percent interest per month or 30 percent a year.

In 1998, Baladjay was able to change the name of her corporation from Ariolite Enterprises International Corporation to Multitel, after assuring the Securities and Exchange Commission that the firm's borrowings would not come from more than 19 lenders.

Baladjay was arrested in Mangaldan in Pangasinan in March 2003 after a government crackdown against Multitel.

She was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Makati court in December 2012. The Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. —ALG, GMA News

Tags: rosariobaladjay, pyramiding