IT IS true: the Constitution upholds the separation between the Church and the State and proscribes not only the establishment of religion but also the prohibition of its free exercise. The language used in both the Declaration of Principles and State Policies and the Bill of Rights is too explicit to leave room for interpretation.
The freedom to worship one’s God, however he conceives him to be, is inviolable and in many jurisdictions, courts have struck down laws that infringe on this freedom even if only so slightly as unwarranted intrusions on the freedom of religious exercise.
Kapa cannot, however, hide under these constitutional precepts to avoid government scrutiny of its commercial operations as this is an area in which the State has a legitimate interest. The protection of the welfare, health and safety of the people is the underlying principle behind police power which is inherent in the State.
The Kapa faithful can attend their church assemblies and prayer meetings without any rule or restriction. They can make donations to their sect or its founder and the government will have no right whatsoever to even ask how much.
But when they start soliciting donations with promises of generous returns or “blessings” that is straying from the religious path, especially when the “donors” are non-members. Here the government will have to step in and quickly before the solicitation creates an unmanageable social problem.
Those who have received their blessings are understandably adamant that there is nothing questionable about Kapa and other pyramiding schemes. For as long as the money keeps flowing, everybody is happy and there is no problem.
But is there an eternal well from which the blessings will flow forever? There is, of course, none. As I have pointed out in an earlier column, there is absolutely no legitimate business activity that can afford to pay its stakeholders 30% interest monthly.
This fact is too obvious to ignore but ignore the investors did, blinded by the false promises of their recruiters and by their own indolence and greed. Every story of an investor receiving his blessings creates a new wave of frenzy, drowning out every voice calling for prudence.
What they have not been told is that they have been suck into another Ponzi scheme which Google says is a form of fraud in which belief in the success of a non-existent enterprise is fostered by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by late investors.
That is why Kapa and ADA and Organico have branched out to many places searching for new investors or recruits. They need the new money to pay the early investors. Without them, the well will dry up, the pyramid will collapse and the bubble inside which reside the investors’ dreams will burst. This is a familiar story. Remember Aman Futures?
That is why the State has to intervene. We have an evolving huge social problem that must be averted.