Don’t pawn lands, invest in Kapa, Duterte warns farmers
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2019 09:50:56 +0000
Agrarian reform beneficiaries run the risk of getting punched by President Duterte if they pawn their lands and invest in a controversial religious group.
In his visit to General Santos City Thursday, the President has warned farmer beneficiaries against getting involved in the alleged investment scam by Kapa-Community Ministry International Inc.
The religious group, which faces closure over its alleged anomalous get-rich-quick scheme, is involved in large-scale estafa, according to the President.
“I would like to give you my advice. Sell that so you can have the capital to invest in Kapa. Sige. Sige have it pawned and tomorrow I will have you all summoned to line up here. You will each receive a punch from me, both men and women,” he told the beneficiaries of the agrarian reform program in Bisaya.
Duterte said land reform beneficiaries should instead “stick to the land and plant” crops. He said the agricultural production would be their source of livelihood and income “even though it’s just small.”
“Anyway, (Agriculture) Secretary (Emmanuel) Piñol proposed about a new breed of rice with grains as large as a guava. I don’t know where he got that from though. I wouldn’t be surprised if you all ended up having diabetes,” he said in jest.
He said the farmers could eventually sell their lands years down the road when it’s worth more money.
“One day one hectare will be worth one million, just wait for it. Wait for a few years. Maybe after five years it will amount to 10 million. That is the time that you will sell it,” he said. “Take care of the money because your tribe will never again be able to hold a million pesos in your entire life,” he added.
Duterte made the statement shortly after leading the ceremonial distribution of land titles to 13,585 agrarian reform beneficiaries.
The Certificates of Land Ownership Awards covered 24,000 hectares of lands in Region 12 (Socsargen or the South Cotabato, Sarangani, and General Santos City area).
In his speech, Duterte stood firmly behind the shutdown of Kapa, saying it was engaged in a fraudulent pyramiding scheme that pays off old investors with money collected from new investors. He found suspicious that Kapa offered hefty monthly returns of 30 percent.
“It is too good to be true. All the banks offer only three or four percent per annum. If they promise to return your investment or double your investment after one month, it’s a scam,” he said.
He said if the Kapa investment was true, he would have endorsed it to the public. But the group, he insisted, was engaged in swindling.
“Don’t enter that because that is fraud, they don’t have money. When the time comes that no one will invest in it anymore, the last persons who invested their money would be the victims,” he said.
Duterte explained that he could be impeached from office if he does not enforce the law against estafa. “The problem is if I don’t implement it, I will be impeached because I am unable to implement the law for the betterment of the majority,” he said. (Genalyn Kabiling)