GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The alleged masterminds behind the multibillion investment scam of controversial quasi-religious group Kapa Community Ministry International, Inc. have remained elusive to authorities, one year after its operation was shut down by the government.
Lawyer Regner Peneza, head of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Sarangani District Office, said Wednesday the nationwide manhunt remains against officials of Kapa or Kabus Padatoon, especially its founder Pastor Joel Apolinario.
Apolinario, his wife Reyna, and other top officers of the group went into hiding after the NBI and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group stormed its offices here and nearby Sarangani and South Cotabato provinces in June last year.
Among those raided was Apolinario’s house in Barangay City Heights here and Kapa’s listed main office in Alabel town, Sarangani.
The crackdown and the subsequent raids on Kapa and other dubious investment schemes were ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte himself.
Peneza said they remain on alert and continue to gather information on the possible location of Apolinario, who was last seen attending a gathering of its supporters here on June 13, 2019.
“He’s no longer here in Region 12,” he said in an interview, citing their intelligence monitoring.
But he said they have copies of warrants of arrest against Apolinario and other officers of Kapa and ready to implement them in case they will be spotted in the area.
The Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 29 in Bislig City, Surigao del Sur, issued warrants of the arrest on February against Apolinario and other Kapa officials for violation of Republic Act 8799 or the Securities Regulation Code.
In March, RTC Branch 21 in Cagayan de Oro City issued another arrest warrant for Apolinario and eight of his associates for syndicated estafa, a non-bailable offense.
Likewise, charges were also filed by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January for violation of RA 8799.
SEC flagged Kapa for soliciting investments from the public through a Ponzi-like scheme in the form of donations and memberships with a monthly payout of 30 percent.
The group, which claimed to have members nationwide, was believed to have collected around PHP50 billion in illegal investments.
Peneza said that among the complainants of the case against Kapa were its former members here and the neighboring areas who lost their investments from the scheme.
He said they were already allowed by the DOJ to file charges against the group in local courts based on complaints from the area.
“We previously endorsed the complaints to the DOJ (in Manila) and they were filed there. But now, we can already file the cases here,” he said. (PNA)
