RGS founder slain; village official hurt

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY – Police are investigating whether the killing of a 40-year-old man in Barangay 2, Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, on Tuesday night was linked to his alleged involvement in a large-scale investment scheme in the province.

Police Lt. Col. Jovil Sedel, chief of the Hinigaran Municipal Police Station, identified the fatality as Henjie Cuadra, a resident of Barangay 2.

Injured was Barangay 2 Kagawad Novem, who was hit by a stray bullet.

Sedel said Cuadra and the barangay official were having a drinking session in front of a store when an unidentified man approached Cuadra and shot him in the head.

Cuadra was declared dead at a hospital.

Novem sustained a minor injury to his left hand and is recuperating.

Police recovered two 9 mm spent cartridge cases and a deformed fired bullet from the crime scene.

Sedel said Cuadra was the founder of RGS World Marketing Corp. and had been arrested twice in 2022 and 2023 in connection with syndicated estafa cases.

However, Sedel said those cases were dismissed due to the nonappearance of complainants.

Cuadra had gone into hiding for more than a year before he was served warrants of arrest for syndicated estafa, with no bail recommended, in Binalbagan in 2022 and in Bago City in 2023.

The Securities and Exchange Commission had earlier ordered RGS World Marketing Corp. to stop the unlawful or unauthorized solicitation, offer and sale of securities until it filed the required registration statement and secured regulatory approval.

The SEC’s March 1, 2022 cease-and-desist order said the Bacolod-based firm had offered compensation plans ranging from PHP 1,000 to PHP 20,000, with promised returns of PHP 3,500 to PHP 80,000, targeting investors in Western Visayas.

Complainants earlier reported investing thousands and even millions of pesos in the firm after being promised large cash returns, but they had yet to receive their payouts.

The SEC action against RGS World became one of the region’s higher-profile investment cases in 2022, providing investigators with possible context as they examine Cuadra’s killing and whether it was connected to his past dealings.