Samuel "Sammy" Sy Co is a Chinese Filipino businessman and politician, who currently serves as the incumbent Mayor of Pagadian City.
On November 12, 2004, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, under the authority of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, issued Memorandum Circular No.
The same memorandum cited Executive Order 429 issued by President Corazon Aquino which declared Pagadian as the "regional center" of the Zamboanga Peninsula.
The order also maintained status quo, noting that, "The Regional Offices that are already in Pagadian City shall continue to operate thereat.
Considered as one of the Philippines' biggest ponzi schemes, the Aman Futures Scam robbed investors an estimated PHP 12 billion ($ 294,000,000).
In a letter to the National Bureau of Investigation, Zamboanga del Sur Governor Antonio Cerilles implicated Co in the scheme citing the latter's distribution of checks to investors.
[14] Co brushed aside the accusation as "character assassination" led by Cerilles, claiming it was aimed at discrediting him to his colleagues in the Liberal Party and derailing his candidacy for the congressional seat of the first district of Zamboanga del Sur.
[15][16][17] Co maintained his innocence, but the special panel formed by the Department of Justice found him to have “acted not merely as an investor but also as an agent of Aman.”[18] He was charged of syndicated estafa with Aman Futures founder Manuel Amalilio and other executives of the fraudulent investment firm.
Later, he was informed by police and justice authorities that in the absence of a complainant or assertion of damage, the alleged investment company could not be shut down.
His repeated challenges failed, however, due to the lack of complainants to support his suspicions that the company was engaged in illegal activities.
According to the citizens gathered outside, the counterpart charges filed by the National Bureau of Investigation against Mayor Samuel Co are merely political attacks against him by rival Zamboanga del Sur Governor Antonio Cerilles.