Senator Raffy Tulfo slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its handling of financial and lending companies, particularly online lending apps (OLAs). His office has received numerous complaints from borrowers who discovered their personal information was shared without consent.
During a March 27 Senate hearing, Tulfo revealed that SEC allows lending companies to share borrowers’ confidential data with third-party service providers, as outlined in Section 2 of Circular No. 18, s. 2019.
Atty. Kenneth Joy Quimio, OIC director of the SEC’s Financing and Lending Companies Department, said these third parties act as agents for OLAs.
The senator disagreed, saying this violates the Data Privacy Act of 2012, which protects sensitive personal information. He pointed out that OLAs and third-party providers are separate entities and should not share such data.
Tulfo suggested that OLAs create their own debt collection units so victims could seek recourse in cases of harassment, and called for the removal of the controversial SEC Circular provision and for a policy review, which Quimio agreed with.
He also criticized the SEC’s confusing list of 117 registered financial and lending companies operating 181 online platforms, released on March 18, 2025, and questioned why, despite a 2021 moratorium on new OLA registrations, the SEC had seemingly allowed new companies to register, increasing the number of platforms by 40 in 2025.
Quimio explained that some companies had over-declared and listed marketing sites, and assured that the SEC monitors OLAs. Tulfo rejected this, pointing to Sun Prime Incorporated, which operated as Salmon Finance in 2025 despite not applying for an OLA license before the 2021 moratorium.IMT
