The Program and Financial Education and Entrepreneurial Development (Feed) Program

2020 ENFORCEMENT AND INVESTOR PROTECTION DEPARTMENT SEC ADVISORY The Commission has received and verified information that entities operating under the name "THE PROGRAM" and "FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT (FEED) PROGRAM" are engaged in soliciting investments from the public, particularly the teachers, military personnel, police officers, OFWs and other professionals. Open source verification from social media such as Facebook revealed that the schemes being employed by THE PROGRAM and the FEED PROGRAM are similar to the investment schemes offered by the TEACHERS FINANCIAL COACHING PROGRAM (TFCP)/TEACHERS FINANCIAL FREEDOM PROGRAM (TFFP)/ELITE TEACHERS FINANCIAL PROGRAM (ETFP)/TEACHERS FINANCIAL PROGRAM (TFP) , described as follows: "The public school teachers are enticed to invest an amount of Php115,000.00 or they are assisted by the entities to obtain a loan from a bank for the said amount in exchange for Php11,000.00 worth of Royale beauty products/food supplements and a cheque amounting to Php10,500.00. The investor will be required to recruit new members to further receive another Php11,000.00 for each recruit. Training seminars on financial literacy and promises of a debt-free life, double net pay, owning a car, travel with family and savings in the bank are likewise offered by the entities." Such invitation to invest which is publicly made through social media amounts to public offering of securities as defined under the 2015 Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC). Section 8 of the SRC specifically provides that securities shall not be publicly offered for sale or distribution in the Philippines without a registration statement filed with and approved by the Commission. Based on the records of the Commission, THE PROGRAM and the FEED PROGRAM are NOT registered with the Commission either as corporations or partnerships. There being no primary license, they are not authorized to solicit investments from the public. Those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents in selling or convincing people to invest in THE PROGRAM and the FEED PROGRAM including soliciting investments or recruiting investors through the internet may be held criminally liable under Section 28 of the SRC and penalized with a maximum fine of Five Million Pesos (Php5,000,000.00) or imprisonment of Twenty-One (21) years or both pursuant to Section 73 of the SRC (SEC vs. Oudine Santos, G.R. No. 195542, 19 March 2014) . The public is hereby reminded that an Advisory against TEACHERS FINANCIAL COACHING PROGRAM (TFCP)/TEACHERS FINANCIAL FREEDOM PROGRAM (TFFP)/ELITE TEACHERS FINANCIAL PROGRAM (ETFP)/TEACHERS FINANCIAL PROGRAM (TFP) has been issued by the Commission on 10 January 2020. In view thereof, the public is hereby advised to STOP INVESTING in the investment scheme being offered by THE PROGRAM and "FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT (FEED) PROGRAM" and their representatives. Should you have any information regarding the solicitation of the abovementioned entities, please contact the Enforcement and Investor Protection Department (EIPD) at telephone number 8818-6047 or at email address [emailprotected] or visit EIPD at its office located at the Ground Floor, North Wing Hall, Secretariat Building, PICC Complex, Pasay City. For the guidance of the public.