MANILA— The Philippine Embassy in Syria warned overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from investing in Philippine Global Coin (PGC), after Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III denied link with the Digital Currency Co., Ltd. (DCC) facilitator of the said virtual currency.
“Allegedly, DCC is marketing virtual currency PGC, enticing overseas Filipino workers to invest in them,” the embassy said in Memorandum Circular No. 14-2018 dated March 5.
Last January 23, Pimentel expressed concern about reports and blogs on Senate’s alleged entry into a partnership with DCC.
In a letter attached with the memorandum circular posted at the official page of Philippine Embassy in Syria, Pimentel wrote Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, denying the Senate’s partnership with DCC.
“The Senate wholly denies the existence of this supposed partnership between it and DCC and firmly denounces any and all claims of Senate participation in such a venture,” Pimentel’s letter reads.
The Senate president recalled that representatives of DCC visited him in his office last November 2017 for a courtesy call.
He noted that usual request for photographs with him were granted.
“I agreed to meet them. They were permitted to take photographs because this is a common request during courtesy calls and there was no reason to refuse their request at the time,” he explained.
In the course of the brief meeting, Pimentel said the DCC representatives discussed plans to promote their virtual currency venture in the Philippines.
Pimentel said he never agreed to support the venture, “whether as a private indivudal nor as head of the Senate.”
“My sole comment on the matter was that the success of any currency would depend on the public’s trust in the people behind the system. At no point did I agree to support their venture, whether as a private individual or as head of the Senate,” he said.
Embassy Charge d’Affaires Crescente Relacion cautioned all Filipinos residing in Syria from participating or investing with DCC, stressing “the latter’s claim of partnership with the Senate is plainly false and patently misleading.” (PNA)