MANILA — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered Farm to Market (F2M) Agri-Farm OPC and its related entities to stop operations.

In a statement, the SEC said the group offered securities through their 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.

This means, for example, that an investor who bought 20 piglets for P100,000 was expecting to receive a 52-percent return of the amount invested or P52,000 within three months.

The SEC said F2M's scheme involved offering or selling 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 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, which includes Ponzi schemes and other schemes...without a license or permit from the SEC," the agency said.

The SEC said that only F2M OPC is registered as a one-person corporation with the bureau.

Meanwhile, its related entities 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 Vizcaya Branch and F2M Tayug are not registered with the commission.

They have not secured the necessary licenses to solicit investments from the public, the SEC said.

The SEC also noted that they found out that F2M OPC's Marikina City address as provided in its articles of incorporation is fake.

The agency said its cease-and-desist order covers F2M branches all over northern and central Luzon, and even its branches as far as Tagbilaran in City in Bohol, General Santos, and Davao. 

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