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MANILA - The firms behind shuttered lending apps should not be allowed by Google to publish new lending apps on its Play Store, a regulator said on Tuesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it has asked Google to block the operators of 30 lending apps shut down by the regulator over various complaints.

SEC Chairman Emilio Aquino said they have already shut down 30 lending apps for not having the licenses needed to operate a lending business.

If any of the apps continue to operate, their operators will be held liable, the SEC warned.

"We will file criminal charges against them," Aquino said in an interview with DZMM Teleradyo.

He said that the last time they checked, the lending apps were no longer accessible on the internet.

The SEC earlier said it received complaints on "unreasonable and abusive lending and collection practices" practiced by the operators of several lending apps.

Among the lending apps barred from operating are:

• Cash Whale
• Cash 100
• Cashafin
• CashFlyer
• CashMaya
• Cashope
• Cashwarm
• Cashwow
• Creditpeso
• ET Easy Loan
• Peso2Go.

These entities were ordered to stop advertising their services online and to remove existing promotions from the internet.

The SEC also earlier issued a cease and desist order against 19 online lending applications, namely:

• Instant Pera
• QuickPera
• Lendmo Philippines
• Binixo
• CashBus
• Cashcat
• Cashuttle
• Crazy Loan
• Flash Cash
• Happy2Peso
• Hatulong
• MeLoan
• MoneyTree Quick Loan
• Pera Express
• Pera4u
• Peramart
• PesoLending
• QuickPeso
• Umbrella.

Meantime, the National Privacy Commission has also warned online lending firms engaged in "debt shaming" on violations of the country's privacy laws.