Tomas Syquia, head of the SEC’s Compliance and Surveillance department, said among those who were named as respondents to the case were Phil-Asia president Vicente Afulgencia and other officers of the company.
The filing of the criminal complaint is in line with the SEC’s thrust to rid the pre-need industry of unscrupulous agents and corporations.
The SEC is also preparing revocation proceedings against Phil-Asia to make sure that the company can not use its SEC registration license to solicit funds from the public.
Phil-Asia tried but failed to stop the implementation of the cease-and-desist order issued against it by the SEC as the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the commission.
In junking the petition for certiorari, the Appellate Court rejected Phil-Asia’s allegation that SEC committed grave abuse of discretion when it issued an order prohibiting the company from further selling pre-need plans to the public. It added that Phil-Asia failed to explain why it resorted to certiorari not appeal.
On the strength of the SEC order, the city legal officer of the business permit and licensing division of Pasig City withdrew the business permit of Phil-Asia and closed and padlocked the firm’s main office.
The issuance of the closure order was spurred by complaints that Phil-Asia continued selling pre-need plans to the public and collecting amortizations from planholders despite the issuance of the CDO.
Phil-Asia has no pre-need plan available for sale since 1993. It has had no dealers licensed since 1996 and no authority to operate a branch.
Since the company failed to comply with SEC requirements, Phil-Asia had been prohibited from selling new pre-need plans. It was only authorized to service existing planholders from Dec. 23, 1993.