The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered Farm to Market (F2M) Agri-Farm OPC and its related entities to stop soliciting investments from the public since it does not have the necessary approvals from the Commission.
In its cease and desist order dated August 20, 2024, the Commission En Banc directed the F2M group to immediately stop offering or selling securities until it secures registration and the necessary license from the SEC.
Included in the order are F2M Tarlac City-Main Branch, F2M, F2M Paalaga System, Hog Raising Business, all F2M branches in the nationwide, F2M Agriventure, F2M Digital Raisers, Kono Salinas, and Wonderboy Tumapang, including its co-anchors RPN DZBS 1368 KHZ Baguio-Radyo Ronda, and Martin Augustin.
It also includes agents, representatives, salesmen, conduit entities, and subsidiaries, as well as persons acting on their behalf including F2M Branches and their respective managers.
The SEC further prohibited the F2M entities from transacting funds in its depository banks, and from transferring, disposing, or conveying any assets to preserve the assets of its investors.
The F2M entities were found to be offering securities through the F2M 3 Months Paalaga System, where investors were invited to buy a piglet for P5,000 in exchange for a guaranteed return of P2,600 for every piglet bought after three months.
For example, an investor who pays P100,000 for 20 piglets will receive a return of 52 percent of the amount invested or P52,000 within three months.
The scheme involved the offer or sale of securities in the form of an investment contract, whereby a person makes an investment of money in a common enterprise with an expectation of profits, derived primarily from the efforts of others, the Commission held.
Section 8.1 of Republic Act (RA) No. 8799, otherwise known as the Securities Regulation Code, prohibits the offering and selling of securities without a registration statement duly filed with and approved by the Commission.
“[T]he unauthorized investment-taking activities of F2M OPC, F2M entities and their cohorts operate as a fraud on investors, or [are] likely to cause grave or irreparable injury or prejudice to the investing public, if not restrained,” the order held.
It added that, “F2M OPC, F2M entities and their cohorts’ act of selling/offering unregistered securities in the form of investment contracts constitutes fraud which should be promptly restrained for the protection of the investing public.”
The Paalaga System also constitutes financial fraud under RA No. 11765, or the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act (FCPA), which defines investment fraud as any form of deceptive solicitation of investments from the public.
These include Ponzi schemes and other schemes involving the promise or offer of profits or returns using investments or contribution from the investors themselves, boiling room operations, and the offering or selling of investments schemes without a license or permit from the SEC, unless it involves exempt securities or are considered as exempt transactions.
Only F2M OPC is registered as a one person corporation with the SEC, while the F2M Tarlac City-Main Branch, F2M, F2M Paalaga System, Hog Raising Business, F2M Tuguegarao Branch, F2M Dagupan, F2M La Union Branch, and F2M Lagawe, Ifugao, F2M-Solano Nueva Viz. Branch and F2M Tayug are not registered with the Commission.
Accordingly, they have not secured the necessary license to solicit investments from the public.
In addition, a surveillance operation by the SEC Enforcement and Investor Protection Department revealed that the address provided in the articles of incorporation of F2M OPC in Marikina City was a sham.
The Commission has issued an advisory against F2M and its related entities as early as April 16, 2024, warning the public to exercise caution against dealing with representatives from the group as they are unauthorized to do so.