MANILA, Philippines — After 16 years of trial, a Quezon City court has finally convicted four suspects in an investment scam that reportedly duped thousands of police and military officers of over P3 billion.

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 220 found mastermind Emilia Sison and her co-accused Ireneo Sison Jr., Mirasol Aguilar and Marilo Cabalo guilty of 23 counts of estafa under the Revised Penal Code during promulgation on Nov. 20.

In a 47-page decision released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday, Judge Jose Paneda sentenced the accused to up to 16 years in prison for each count.

The court also ordered them to return to the victims at least P7 million in cash investments.

Sison was also found guilty of violating Republic Act 8799 or the Securities Regulation Act.

The court sentenced her to another prison term of 10 years and fined P2 million.

Court records show that Sison, through the firm ICS Export Inc., managed to collect around P3 billion from at least 4,000 victims – mostly officers of the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces – by luring them to invest a minimum of P50,000 with eight to 15 percent profit per month.

The principal amount could only be withdrawn by an investor after six months.

As a guarantee, the company issued post-dated checks in the form of monthly interest to each investor. But the complainants said the checks issued by Sison bounced.

The court downgraded the charge from syndicated estafa to estafa due to the death of the fifth defendant, Mimosa Zamudio, incorporator of ICS, during the trial.

“The strategy used by the accused is similar to the Ponzi scheme,” the court said.

The court found that ICS was formed to engage in trading and exporting goods such as garden decor, agricultural products, leather, fashion accessories and food supplement. But the firm was not authorized to solicit investments from the public.

The court said the prosecution led by Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong managed to establish the guilt of Sison in violating the securities law.

Five others were acquitted for lack of evidence. They were former police superintendent Ricardo Sison, William Sison, Lorna Bosque, Vilma Benitez and Elizabeth Cervera.

The court ordered their immediate release from detention.

The DOJ filed the cases against the accused in September 2002.