Pag-IBIG dared to file falsification rap vs Globe Asiatique

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile dared yesterday officials of the Housing Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG fund to file a falsification case against Globe Asiatique (GA) Realty Holdings Corp. president Delfin Lee for the alleged spurious loan applications of around 400 Pag-IBIG members for the firm’s low-cost housing project in Pampanga.

“I challenge you (Pag-IBIG officials) to file a case against this guy (Lee) so we will know if he is telling the truth, so he can present those people and examine them in the courtroom,” Enrile said during the public hearing of the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies.

“Better get the affidavit of each one of these people (supposed borrowers),” Enrile said.

He said the filing of falsification case against Lee would compel him to present the fake borrowers.

“We will punish him if he could not present anyone. Do not ever think you can get away with this,” he added.

The committee also ordered yesterday Bayani Garcia, former manager of Pag-IBIG fund Pampanga branch, to appear before the committee.

Garcia was the branch manager who approved the alleged questionable loans for GA’s Xevera projects using fake documents.

Pag-IBIG president and chief executive officer Jaime Fabiana said all the loans for the Xevera housing projects were processed and validated by the Pag-IBIG branch in Pampanga.

John Cosico, Pag-IBIG legal and general counsel group vice president, said that out of the 9,145 loan accounts worth P6.68 billion that were given to GA by Pag-IBIG Fund, 944 were denied for housing loan and 1,021 buyers could not be located.

Fabiana said they received reports about borrowers who were asked to sign loan documents in exchange for P1,000 to P5,000.

During the hearing on the housing controversy, Lee admitted that GA failed to inform Pag-IBIG that some of the applicants were nonexistent.

Lee said it could not be considered spurious accounts because the applicants could be overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) or have changed addresses and contact numbers.

Pag-IBIG officials told the committees that GA’s total loan takeout from Pag-IBIG for the Xevera projects and Sta. Barbara development loan amounted to P12.82 billion.

Loan takeout for the Xevera projects is P9.7 billion and an amount of P2.8 billion was released for Sta. Barbara project.

“It is not a special treatment or special privilege. We have to go through a lot of requirements before we are accredited,” Lee said during the hearing.

Pag-IBIG management formed a task force to investigate the spurious transactions and the probe team uncovered that some 1,000 borrowers could not be located.

“GA handled 20,000 accounts for the last 16 years with Pag-IBIG. Suddenly about 400 were found being questioned. We dealt with this and we are ready for replacement if only Pag-IBIG Fund will allow us,” Lee said.

“As far as financial damage is concerned no single amount (was) lost by Pag-IBIG because all these are collateralized. If we can be allowed to remedy this we can solve this in one or two months. We have written Pag-IBIG but sadly nothing has happened,” he said.

Former vice president and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chair Noli de Castro said there was nothing wrong with the housing policy but the problem was implementation.

De Castro said that he received reports about the problems in the documentation of borrower accounts for the Xevera projects months before he left as HUDCC chairman and he immediately brought this to the attention of Pag-IBIG management.

“I would like to personally assure both committees, as well as the general public including the millions of our kababayans who are members of the Pag-IBIG Fund, that there was no malice or any hidden agenda in the creation of the program that made Xevera projects possible,” De Castro said.

He said the only underlying motive was to harness available resources to make housing more affordable to more Filipinos within the confines of pertinent laws, rules and regulations.

Pag-IBIG officer-in-charge Emma Linda Faria said Globe Asiatique paid for the monthly amortizations of buyers that the firm had admitted to be “questionable” even after an agency audit found out that these borrowers were nonexistent.

“Globe Asiatique has been making the accounts of hundreds of questionable buyers current by paying for their monthly amortizations even though they did not receive a single payment from these supposed buyers since their loans were approved,” Faria said.

Faria said Pag-IBIG entered into an agreement with Globe Asiatique in 2008 in response to the need to provide housing for self-employed workers, domestic helpers, and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). These workers were later categorized as Other Working Groups (OWGs).

While Pag-IBIG had already been serving this segment of the population, there was no program specifically geared for them. When Globe Asiatique proposed to target this category, the Pag-IBIG agreed to start a pilot project, she said.

“Globe Asiatique was granted a funding commitment line of P5 billion for a period of three years. In turn, they committed to a buyback guaranty of 5 years instead of the regular 2 years, and a performing accounts ratio of 95 percent instead of 90 percent as required of other developers,” Faria said.

Faria said Pag-IBIG suspended GA’s access to Window 1 or the express lane facility, cancelled the firm’s authority to conduct loan counseling, mandated pre-inspection of all loan applications, and canceled its Funding Commitment Line.

Pag-IBIG has also cancelled the developer’s Collection Servicing Agreement (CSA), which authorizes the developer to collect monthly payments from member-borrowers and remit these to the Fund.

Since the discovery of the questionable borrowers, Pag-IBIG has issued 2,108 Notices of Buyback to Globe Asiatique with a value of P1.45 billion.

Lee said their company is the one which stands to lose money if the claims of alleged bogus borrowers are true since the company guaranteed every loan takeout in its housing projects.

He said their company has already built all the housing units in the Xevera projects in Bacolor and Mabalacat, Pampanga, using its own funds before they were sold to Pag-IBIG members through loan arrangements.

“It is only when these loans are approved by Pag-IBIG and the housing units are turned over to borrowers that the company gets paid,” he said.