Court issues HDO vs Delfin Lee, 4 others

MANILA, Philippines - A Pampanga court has issued a hold departure order (HDO) against Delfin Lee, owner of Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings, and his four co-accused in the corporation’s housing scam, Vice President Jejomar Binay said yesterday.

Judge Amifaith Fider-Reyes of the Pampanga Regional Trial Court Branch 43 also issued an HDO on Lee’s son, Dexter; Globe Asiatique officers Christina Sagun and Cristina Salagan; and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) official Alex Alvarez.

Binay hailed the issuance of the HDO as “another victory for (workers) who were defrauded of their hard-earned money.”

“This is a very welcome development. We are very hopeful that this will advance our demand for Delfin Lee to pay for his crimes,” Binay said.

Lee and his son Dexter went into hiding after an arrest warrant was issued against them.

Lee and the other accused are facing syndicated estafa charges on the allegedly anomalous loans granted by Pag-IBIG Fund to purported ghost borrowers who bought homes in Globe Asiatique’s Xevera Housing project in Mabalacat City, Pampanga.

“We just hope that the hold departure order would aid our law enforcement authorities. We do not want to think that Delfin Lee has evaded justice. Despite the P2-million reward offered by the President for his capture, Lee and his co-accused remain at large,” said Binay, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and board chairman of Pag-IBIG Fund.

In 2008, Globe Asiatique secured a P6.6-billion loan from Pag-IBIG for the Mabalacat housing project. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) later said Lee allegedly made false representations and submitted fake documents to secure the loan.

From the 9,951 alleged Pag-IBIG borrowers submitted by Globe Asiatique, 1,000 turned out to be spurious, 400 of them said they never applied for such loans, while 200 lacked required documents. The others were not qualified to apply for the loans.