SIX companies, including three lending firms, are in hot water after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed criminal complaints against them yesterday for their alleged abusive ways, including online debt shaming, in collecting payment from borrowers.
Lawyer Oliver Leonardo, Director of the Enforcement and Investor Protection Department of the SEC, said aside from the three lending companies, they have also filed complaints against two business process outsourcing companies and a financing company for violation of Republic Act 9474 or the Lending Company Regulation Act and RA 11765, otherwise known as the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act.
Charged before the Justice Department were the FESL Lending Investor Corp., U-Peso Lending Corp., Philippine Microdot Financing Corp., Armorak Lending Inc. and FESL Business Process Services and Realm Shifter Business Process Outsourcing Services.
“They have an office and agents who would call and make death threats, utter profanities or humiliate them (borrowers) on social media),” Leonardo told reporters after filing the complaints yesterday.
He said the BPO companies included in the complaint were also harassing borrowers even if they have no legitimate license or certificate to engage as a lending company.
He said the BPO firms were charged with violating the Lending Company Regulation Act.
Leonardo said they have also filed a complaint against 28 persons, including five Chinese, for violation of the same laws.
“Based on our data, on our records, these foreign nationals, particularly Chinese, are the ones who are operating these companies, they are the owners, and sometimes the corporations involved are also foreign,” he said.
Leonardo said if found guilty, they may be fined as much as P2 million and imprisoned for up to five years.
He appealed to those who may have been victimized by abusive lending companies and their agents to seek help from authorities.
Earlier, the DOJ said that harassing people, like posting the debtors’ sensitive details and shaming them online, is an illegal act.
Those who engage in such practices, the DOJ added, can be held liable for the violation of RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, RA 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012, and SEC Memorandum Circular No.18 Series of 2019.
