Senate to hear if Lee or Pag-IBIG was at fault

Noynoy Aquino doesn’t need constitutional amending in order to seek a second term. Since 1998 Presidents already serve two terms – the first in office, the second in jail.

Dissuaders of Aquino from running again might wish to tell him: in his second term he won’t have a past administration to blame for his failures.

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The Senate is to hear the side of Delfin Lee in the Globe Asiatique controversy. To be calendared soon, such inquiry can help people judge if Lee really scammed homebuyers as the government says, or if it’s all the fault of the housing agency as he contraposes. Public awareness is vital, as on Lee’s case hinges decisions of homebuilders and buyers.

Lee is in jail on a non-bailable rap of syndicated estafa. Supposedly in 2009 his Globe Asiatique defrauded the Home Development Mutual Fund of P6.6 billion in loans to Pag-IBIG members. Homebuyers of GA’s Xevera Homes in Mabalacat and Bacolor towns, Pampanga, allege that he double-sold the houses to them. Purportedly he pulled the trick in cahoots with HDMF officials.

Trial has not commenced. Lee and the government are locked in elementary legal issues. Among these: faulty preliminary investigation by the Dept. of Justice; inapt “syndicated” charge that requires at least five conspirators, whereas only four remain impleaded; police breach of a Court of Appeals stay on the arrest of Lee and co-accused.

Meanwhile, court records make no mention of the oft-reported P6.6 billion. No less than the Solicitor General, representing the HDMF in the Court of Appeals, stated that the amount is what was lent to Pag-IBIG borrowers, not the damage to the agency. That is why the HDMF has not issued a demand letter for it. What is on record, in a civil suit earlier won by Lee, is that GA had sunk half-a-billion pesos into the Xevera projects, so the HDMF must reimburse it as contracted. In that lawsuit, the Solicitor General had filed for the HDMF a counterclaim of only P12 million, to be offset against GA’s collectible.

On file too at the HDMF, in GA’s favor, is that the two Xevera projects have been completed, with amenities like public parks, churches, clubhouses, sports facilities, and municipal buildings. Notably, since Xevera’s are middle-class houses, the HDMF and not GA screened and processed the Pag-IBIG housing borrowers. It is so unlike socialized housing, in which developers pick the buyers beforehand, then get reimbursed by the HDMF. If there was double selling, GA contends, it is the fault of the housing agency for sloppy loan approvals to unqualified, absconding homebuyers. The loans are adequately secured, GA maintains, because the HDMF valued each Xevera house at P850,000 yet lent Pag-IBIG members only P650,000, for a cash participation of P200,000 per borrower.

The Senate is to determine if Lee and GA abused the system, or the HDMF loused up its job and, unable to collect from Pag-IBIG borrowers, is looking for a scapegoat. To be studied too is the beef of the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations (CREBA) against abrupt changing of government rules, applied retroactively at that.

In a recent statement, the 3,500-strong CREBA alludes to Lee as a victim of such retroactive rule change, resulting to “trial and judgment by publicity.” The CREBA consists of property developers, builders, constructors, materials makers and suppliers, real estate professions and services, and 75 related fields. Its officers say their industry relies on consistent laws, policies, and rules in order to fulfill its commitment to the government to wipe out the 5.5-million housing shortage.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, as housing czar, had initiated the case against Lee. President Noynoy Aquino had egged the National Police to arrest him despite the bar by the Court of Appeals.

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Letter from reader Jeffrey Dy, hotmail.com: “It’s sad to not see our country progress. The President repeatedly said we’re on the way to achieving our hopes. Filipinos are not ignorant but are very patient to a fault. We all know what’s happening: the problems in agriculture, peace and order, traffic, port congestion, etc. Most upsetting is the MRT-3. We are so patient that we line up for hours everyday to get a ride because we have no choice. It’s impossible that people in the government do not notice this; they just choose to ignore it and treat it as something for Filipinos to endure. Meanwhile we keep paying our taxes. In other countries, the conduct of government officials is scrutinized, and citizens demand to know where their taxes go. We need to feel the effect of our taxes. The President should know that his priority in office is the people’s welfare. It’s impossible that he does not see the long queues at MRT stations, yet what has he done? We all know that other countries are modernizing, switching to high-speed trains from the likes of what we have now. Shouldn’t we be doing the same? Why would it take a couple of years just to order a prototype of a new MRT coach? A lot of things are wrong, yet we keep taking it. Our officials should be thankful that we are patient. But patience has its limits.”

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