CA approves Asiatique damage suit vs Pag-IBIG

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals (CA) has given its go-signal to a damage suit filed by Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. (GA) against the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) before the Makati City regional trial court (RTC).

Voting 3-2 last week, the CA’s special 11th division affirmed the decision issued by the Makati RTC Branch 58 in January last year favoring GA.

It dismissed on technical ground a petition filed by Pag-IBIG Fund seeking to reverse the lower court’s ruling, which held that GA is entitled to damages but the amount would have to be determined in trial.

The RTC granted the suit filed by fugitive GA president Delfin Lee and held that Pag-IBIG and its Board of Trustees are guilty of breaching the provisions of a memorandum of agreement and the funding commitment agreements it entered into with GA.

Lee filed the petition after the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted him and other GA executives in a P6.65-billion syndicated estafa case for anomalous loans granted by Pag-IBIG Fund to “ghost borrowers” who supposedly bought homes in GA’s housing project in Mabalacat, Pampanga.  

The CA agreed, explaining that Pag-IBIG Fund should not be allowed to escape liability by simply alleging that the defaulting buyers-borrowers are fictitious, considering that it was the agency that approved all memberships and loan application of the buyers-borrowers.