The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has always been one of the most powerful such agencies in the world, as it functions not only as the official registry of the country’s corporations but as regulator of the sale of securities as well.

And with the passage of the long-delayed (40 years) Revised Corporation Code during President Duterte’s time, its powers have been further boosted. Its chair or representative sits in, among others, the Anti-Money Laundering Council and, through the Secretary of Finance, the Anti-Terrorism Council. It also has a hand in implementing the many laws on investments, including those designed to counter fraudulent ones.

That is on paper. In reality, it is nothing but a paper tiger.

Witness the myriad investment scams — big and small — that have proliferated in our country since as far back as we can remember, deceitful get-rich-quick schemes by companies that have operated under the supposedly legitimizing mantle of the phrase “SEC-registered.” True, these scammers have complied with SEC registration, which only imbues them with a separate juridical personality under the Corporation Code, NOT with a license to steal.

There are laws against syndicated estafa that mandate life imprisonment for its perpetrators. Also, both the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have their own specialized anti-fraud units. But once cases reach prosecution, the deed has been done, and millions — even billions — have been swindled from the public. Retirement and educational funds, life savings, have been wiped out. Many are the times that these billions have remained unrecovered. As I said in a recent interview, “Those are not only monies stolen, those are lives shattered.”

The SEC has been tasked by law to prevent that. It is supposed to oversee every registered corporation and the sale of its securities, under the Revised Securities Code, the same law that prohibits the unauthorized sale of securities. In other words, it is the bounden duty of the SEC to STOP securities fraud BEFORE it happens.

Countless times the SEC has dropped the ball. Which leads many to question whether its leadership has any balls at all to do their job. Right now, media reports say that our country is the scam capital of the ASEAN region.

The latest of these epic fails is the case of PROCAP International, a SEC-registered corporation. A few years ago, it started — without a secondary license — to sell what its agents called “investments” to the general public whereby funds deposited by investors would be used to bet on casino games. If it won, you would get your share of the winnings. If it lost, you would get your money back. It’s insured, it’s guaranteed, they said, at 6 to 40 percent a month. Too good to be true? Yes, because it is.

Due to numerous complaints, the SEC conducted entrapment operations and arrested some of the foot soldiers of PROCAP, and cancelled its registration. The big guns remained free and clear. So, what they did was to simply register a new corporation: in lieu of PROCAP INTERNATIONAL, they called it PROCAP QUANTUM 7 INTERNATIONAL. Same corporate address, practically the same people, practically the same name. And — lo and behold! — the SEC AGAIN registered a previously shuttered corporation. Allowing the same gang to do the same acts complained of all over again. With massive publicity and a public relations campaign, mind you.

Some people in the SEC must be either blind, or on the take (I’ll bet on the latter), to not notice how these people are thumbing their noses at the SEC and the law. Yet, the activities of the revivified company go on and on, complete with primers on social media and very public “investors’ meetings.”

Truly, the people are sick and tired of a useless SEC which, instead of siccing its agents on fraudsters, can only issue warning after public warning, doing little else.