In 2013, the founder of “Aman Futures”, Manuel K.

Amalilio, was caught in

Malaysia after pleading guilty to charges of holding false travel documents. Aman
Futures was reported as a pyramid scheme in 2012 by the National Bureau of
Investigation of the Philippines that duped some 15,000 people in Mindanao and in the
Visayas. Authorities from the Philippines have set a manhunt for Manuel K. Amalilio, the
founder of the company who left the Philippines for Sabah, Malaysia. 
 
It may be recalled that the Aman Group is a swindling syndicate that wronged the
investing public through an investment scam known as "Ponzi Scheme”. The Aman
Group registered a front company, the "Aman Futures Inc”, purportedly authorized to
engage in future stocks trading, when in fact it is not authorized to do so by the
Securities and Exchange Commission. When the Aman Group found out that the NBI
was conducting an investigation on the matter, the respondents refused to cash out the
money of the investors, and they pretended that the said investment was automatically
reinvested.
 
The "double-your-money" was a phrase being pitched to join the network. NBI
has said that there are about 8,000 complaints filed against the company and over
100,000 Filipino families were victimized. Supposedly this “investment” house has a DTI
permit and has been operating since March 2012. Aman Investment Trading is
spreading like wildfire in Pagadian City even the mayor and barangay captains and
known persons are investing. It offers investors a too good to be true return on your
investment. Some claim that whatever capital you put in, after 2 weeks you are assured
of at least 31% return. So if you invested 1,000 pesos, in just 14 days your initial
investment will profit P310. If you invested say P10,000, you will get P3,100 and 50% if
the duration is to be yielded for a month.
 
Pagadian City Mayor Samuel Co and his wife were charged with syndicated
estafa on Wednesday, November 28, for his alleged involvement in the Aman Futures
Group money scam. The charges come two months after the Aman office in Pagadian
City closed. The pyramid scam, dubbed one of the biggest in the country's history, is
estimated to have robbed investors of P12-billion worth of hard-earned cash.

In a Joint Resolution dated 10 July 2013, the Department of Justice Special

Panel of Prosecutors, which was created under Department Order No. 963 dated 14
November 2012 to investigate the Aman Futures pyramid scheme, recommended the
filing anew of an Information for Syndicated Estafa. (P.D. 1689) against respondents
Manuel K. Amalilio, Fernando R. Luna, Lelian Lim Gan, Eduard L. Lim, Wilanie L.
Fuentes, Naezelle M.  Rodriguez, Lurix B. Lopez, Mohammad Hassan Mackno,
Dimasara Jova, Samuel Co, Ian Madarang, and Priscilla Ann Fernandez Co.
RESPONSE:

The irony of money.

In today’s reality, we all want financial stability. We all want to live life practically and
that means having money in order to support our needs and feel secured. But the ironic
part is, a lot of people wants it but only a few wants to work hard for it. People tend to
look for money in the wrong place and that place leads them to what we call scams. A
lot of individuals tend to become irrational when it comes to wealth and would only think
of generating more and more income. Don’t get me wrong, wanting to grow your money
isn’t a bad thing at all; what’s not clicking is that we work hard to earn money but we
gamble it easily. In relation to the article above, people are easily attracted to the idea of
making more money that they get blinded by it. Once there is an offer saying your
money would double or triple in just a short span of time, people would definitely give in.
They tend to ignore the statistics, legitimacy, and credibility of the corporation/company
proposing such offer. They tend to believe the endorsement of how good and life-
changing that propaganda is but they likely skip the most important part – fact checking.

As someone who was raised being taught of the importance of financial assets, the
most valuable lesson I’ve learned is that you need to spend your money wisely. In my
case, I invested mine in starting up my own small business way back 2019. I had a hard
time juggling my academics and business that is why I stopped during mid 2021 but
nonetheless, I can proudly say that all the hassle I’ve went through was worth it. I was
able to save up and now I have opened two (2) bank accounts solely for my future
needs. I was given the chance to decide on what to do with my money and I chose to
invest in something I was sure of. Something that would require time and effort but
despite that, I was able to keep track of my financial progress and therefore, was sure of
what was happening to my investment.

Money is hard to earn so think thoroughly before deciding what to do with it. Be aware
of the scams happening around you and be open to the facts available to you. Because
by the end of the day, you’re still the one who will be directly affected by your own
decisions. May the scheme of Aman Futures serve as a lesson to everyone.