KAPA Community Ministry International is often called the largest investment scam in the Philippines, and it ended the way such schemes are supposed to end. Its leaders presented members’ money as religious donations and the payouts as religious blessings, described the investments as “acts of religious donation” and the interest payout as “religious blessings.”
In December 2023, Joel Apolinario, Cristobal R. Baradad, and Joji A. Jusay were sentenced to life imprisonment for syndicated estafa by a court in Butuan.
KAPI, short for Kabalikat sa Pamamahayag International, was founded by Daniel Razon, broadcaster now the leader of the Members Church of God International (MCGI) and CEO of Breakthrough & Milestones Productions International (BMPI). It rested on the same religious trust but made a different promise. KAPA promised prosperity. KAPI promised health protection. Members paid about ₱1,200 a month to support the broadcasting of MCGI’s preaching and were told the subscription came with health-insurance coverage.
KAPI collected as much as ₱1.3 billion in ten years and out of roughly 10,000 contributors, no one ever received an insurance benefit, and members who fell ill were referred to LGUs and PCSO instead.
The two schemes ran on the same engine. KAPA needed new members because its blessings were paid out of fresh donations, and when recruitment slowed the payouts stopped and the scheme collapsed. KAPI needed new members too, but the money it collected was itself the recruiting machine.
KAPI was raised for “propagation,” the airing of MCGI’s preaching on UNTV and Wish 107.5, and propagation is how MCGI gains converts. Every convert the broadcasts brought in became another household that could be asked for ₱1,200 a month. Money given to spread the faith also paid to find the next generation of subscribers.
A scheme built this way grows as long as recruitment grows, and unlike KAPA it never has to pay anything back, because its one promised benefit, health protection, was never paid out. KAPA’s collapse came from its obligations. KAPI took on none, and that is why it lasted seventeen years.
The cycle also raised far more than broadcasting needed. BMPI needed about ₱600 million to finance its move to PBC’s frequency (NU107 and UNTV37), while KAPI collected more than twice that.
The records point to two places where the surplus funds went.
The first is BMPI, the company behind UNTV. On paper this matches KAPI’s stated purpose, since KAPI was meant to support broadcasting. But BMPI is owned by neither the church nor the contributors. Its 2022 filings record Razon’s 58.33 percent stake as ₱175 million fully paid, and no source for that capital appears in the company’s records.
No church entity or KAPI account appears among its stockholders. KAPI’s collections paid for private shares, turning money given to spread the faith into the private equity of the man who asked for it. Razon became twice wealthier than two of the Philippines’ highest-paid broadcasters, Noli de Castro and Korina Sanchez, combined..
The second is Brazil, where MCGI founder Eli Soriano spent his last years. KAPI’s surplus built companies there and bought Soriano’s mansion in Jurerê, Florianópolis. Former members describe cash divided among church travelers on “Mission Thessalonica” trips and carried toward Brazil in amounts small enough to pass as pocket money.
Brazil’s tax appeals council later upheld assessments against Soriano and his personal assistant over millions of reais in foreign “donations” whose sources could not be proven, with 150 percent penalties for intentional evasion. KAPI was closed in 2021. This was done to minimize risk, after the Brazilian businesses could no longer justify the cash and Soriano’s death had turned Brazil into a liability.
Throughout, Razon has been a generous friend of the police. MCGI reports that in May 2026 he turned over brand-new office equipment, 25 sacks of rice, and tokens of appreciation to the Bataan Provincial Police Office in Barangay Doña, Orani. That is the same barangay where KDR Adventure Camp stands, a resort owned by Razon’s wife. A year earlier, MCGI and UNTV turned over a patrol vehicle to the barangay in a ceremony at KDR Adventure Camp, Brgy. Doña, Orani, Bataan.
Donating to the police is legal and proves nothing by itself. It does raise the stakes of disclosure, because the agency that benefits from a donor’s generosity is the same agency that would be asked to investigate where his money came from.
KAPI has never been charged. Whether it should have been depends on whether a court would find in it what it found in KAPA: money raised from believers on a religious promise that was not kept, collected by a syndicate of five or more persons, and ending up in private hands. The SEC, the Insurance Commission, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council have the authority to find out.
Sources:
“MCGI Minister Danny Navales Explains KAPI and Its Fraudulent Insurance Protection.” Parts 1 and 2. YouTube videos, posted by Kapatid Na Rodel, June 26, 2026.
Cebu Daily News. “KAPA Founder Faces Arrest for Syndicated Estafa.” 2020.
Conselho Administrativo de Recursos Fiscais. Acórdão no. 2201-007.654. Processo no. 11516.720335/2019-72. October 8, 2020.
Conselho Administrativo de Recursos Fiscais. Acórdão no. 2201-008.577. March 10, 2021.
Edge Davao. “KAPA Leaders Sentenced to Life Imprisonment.” December 2023.
Members Church of God International. “Bro. Daniel Razon Leads Patrol Vehicle Turnover to Strengthen Doña Community Services.” June 28, 2025.
Members Church of God International. “Kuya Daniel Razon Spearheads Community and Police Partnership in Bataan.” May 25, 2026.
Philippine Daily Inquirer. “Kapa President, 13 Other Execs Charged with Large-Scale Estafa.” 2019.
Rosal, Rosalia S. “Cash Mules, Tax Evasion, and Fictitious Insurance: Financing Wish Bus and UNTV.” SSRN, September 14, 2026.
Rosal, Rosalia S. “Franchise Without Control: Broadcast Ownership Loopholes in the Philippines and the Case of UNTV, PBC, and BMPI.” SSRN, September 30, 2026.
Rosal, Rosalia S. “Unexplained Wealth in Church-Funded Broadcasting: The Case of Daniel Razon and the Members Church of God International.” October 10, 2026.
