Palace to bring Asiatique estafa case to SC

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang will elevate to the Supreme Court (SC) the quashed syndicated estafa case against real estate magnate Delfin Lee and four other executives of Globe Asiatique, whom the Court of Appeals (CA) had recently absolved, an official said yesterday.

“The government intends to pursue the case. We are challenging the decision of the Court of Appeals in the Supreme Court,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a press briefing.

The CA ordered the quashing of the syndicated estafa case filed against the Globe Asiatique executives by the Department of Justice (DOJ) before a Pampanga court and the recall of the arrest warrant issued against them.

Among the accused were Lee; his son, Dexter; Cristina Sagun, former head of Globe Asiatique documentation department; accounting department head Cristina Salagan; and Pag-IBIG Fund lawyer Alex Alvarez.

President Aquino has put up a P2 million reward for the arrest of Lee, who has gone into hiding since the warrant was issued for his arrest.

When asked why the government, despite its vast resources, could not catch Lee, Valte said, “While that is true that government has resources… the fugitive also has huge resources.”

DOJ braced for fight

The DOJ is set to fight for its syndicated estafa case against Lee involving allegedly anomalous P6.6-billion housing projects in Pampanga through loans from Pag-IBIG Fund.

Secretary Leila de Lima said the DOJ will question before the high court a CA ruling that effectively downgraded the case against Lee to simple estafa after clearing Sagun.

“My instruction is for the DOJ, through the Office of the Solicitor General, to elevate the matter to the Supreme Court,” she told reporters in a text message.

De Lima made the statement in reaction to the resolution of the special 10th Division of the CA last week that junked OSG’s appeal of its ruling in October last year clearing Sagun for lack of evidence.

The same CA ruling, penned by Associate Justice Angelita Gacutan, recalled the arrest warrant against Lee, Sagun and the three remaining accused in the syndicated estafa case pending in the Pampanga regional trial court.

The recall of the arrest order, however, did not come as a surprise for the DOJ since the resolution was expected to lead to the downgrading of charges against Lee and the remaining three others since syndicated estafa requires at least five accused.

The CA stood by its earlier findings that Sagun could not be held liable since her duty was simply ministerial and confined to collating and checking if documents of borrowers were duly accomplished and verifying from Pag-IBIG Fund if the borrowers were indeed members or if they had no existing housing loans.

Pag-IBIG filed the complaint following a directive from Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chair Jejomar Binay to investigate reports of spurious borrowers in GA’s Xevera project in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

Grave injustice

Binay said while they have not received a copy of the CA’s ruling, but “if this report is accurate, then the decision is a grave injustice against the victims of Delfin Lee. We will not take this sitting down.”

Meanwhile, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo said yesterday the questionable grant of billions in housing loans by Pag-IBIG Fund to real estate developer Delfin Lee of Globe Asiatique happened after then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo replaced him as the state agency’s head.

“The questionable and fraudulent loans that Cong. Toby is referring happened after I had left Pag-IBIG,” he said, referring to accusations made by Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) secretary general and campaign manger.

“If he simply checks the dates of these fraudulent loans, it will reveal that they happened after 15 March of 2009, the day I was replaced as CEO (chief executive officer). It did not happen during my watch,” Quimbo said.

He said Tiangco could easily check his facts with Pag-IBIG as the housing funding corporation is now under Binay, one of the UNA’s “three kings.” 

“It might also interest him to know that I was unceremoniously replaced as CEO of Pag-IBIG Fund precisely because of my refusal to expand the pilot lending window to Globe Asiatique as was being demanded by the developer from Pag-IBIG,” he added.

At the time Quimbo was Pag-IBIG boss, the funding firm was under then Vice President Noli de Castro, Arroyo’s housing czar.– With Jess Diaz