Senator Rafael ‘’Raffy’’ Tulfo today, Aug. 22, scored the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for its failure to act on numerous reports of scams reported to him by victims of so-called multi-level marketing (MLM) and networking companies on consumers by promising them exhorbitant returns on their investments.

Tulfo, in a hybrid organizational meeting of the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship chaired by Senator Mark Villar, dared the DTI to step-up its efforts to scrutinize and regulate fraudulent companies who apply for DTI accreditation to seduce unwitting victims with get-rich-quick schemes.

“I suggest that you look for ways to ensure that these fraudulent multi-level marketing and networking companies would not continue to increase, especially during the pandemic, by promising big bucks or better futures to the Filipino people. It's about time that you ensure that these companies would stop dominating markets, especially on-line. It is also time that you start coordinating with law enforcement agencies such as the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) and that you all work together to stop these companies from scamming people,” Tulfo said in a mix of English and Filipino.

The lawmaker revealed that he has called the DTI many times to relay complaints from consumers but the DTI appeared to have turned deaf on his calls and any DTI official tasked to talk to him wasn't a decision maker.

Tulfo even dared DTI officials to continue evading him even as they were face-to-face during the hybrid briefing.

He said the DTI should screen the identities of incorporators of companies who had been investigated for questionable practices in the past by withholding their registration application forms.

But DTI officials insisted that all that they could do is to accept the registration papers of companies.

DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual thanked Tulfo for his information but insisted that any investigation on questionable business practices should be done by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the PNP and other law enforcement agencies.