21 charged over fake government office

MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-one people have been charged in court in connection with an organization posing as an agency under the Office of the President, whose rented space was raided by the police last month.

Superintendent Audie Madrideo, commander of the Quezon City Police District-Station 2, said the 21 officers of the group calling itself the Presidential Regional Assistance Monitoring Services or PRAMS were charged before the Quezon City regional trial court.

According to Madrideo, the 21 officers of PRAMS were charged before the court recently with cases for usurpation of authority and illegal use of the seal of the Office of the President.

Following the raid on PRAMS’ offices in Barangay Bagong Pag-asa on Oct. 9, Madrideo had described the group as similar to a “networking scam... wherein members are given quotas to recruit more people into the group.”

Officials of the group claimed PRAMS was formed through executive orders issued way back in 1985, but a Malacañang official, in that same year, issued a memorandum circular declaring it “non-existence.”

The QCPD had said the organization allegedly lured prospective members in exchange for a fee amounting to P600 - P350 for identification card, P50 for a documentary stamp, and an initial monthly due of P200.

The officers and members, interviewed after the raid, said the organization was formed to help the government implement its programs on “sanitation and taxation.” They could not say how this would be done.

Its officials had claimed the group had yet to start any of its intended endeavors since it was still waiting for its budget from the Office of the President.