IN THE wake of the investment scandal, concerned government agencies in Cagayan de Oro City are planning to craft guidelines that will help investors check the company where they plan to pour millions of pesos hoping to earn more.

City Councilor George Goking, committee chairman on ways and means, said a memorandum of agreement (MOA) is in the pipelines with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo), and the City Legal Office.

“I appealed to them to come up with a MOA for us to be guided if this is a legitimate company, and if we as investors are doing the right thing. Through the MOA, we can ask our partner agencies to share data with us,” Goking said.

“So maybe in the future, no more investment scams will be spreading here in our city,” he added.

SEC-Northern Mindanao Director Renato Egypto said that although the plan is possible, they can only act according to the Privacy Act, a legislation “to protect the fundamental human right of privacy, of communication while ensuring free flow of information to promote innovation and growth.”

The investment scandal started when SEC issued a red flag advisory against Freedom Traders Club and its virtual currency product “Ploutos Coins.”

According to the advisory, Freedom Traders Club is not registered as a corporation or partnership and “is not authorized to solicit investments from the public as the above-mentioned entity did not secure prior registration and/or license to solicit investment from the Commission as prescribed under Section 8 of the Securities Regulation Code.”