Enrile dares Pag-IBIG to file case vs Globe Asiatique

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Thursday dared Pag-IBIG Fund officials to file falsification charges against the head of property developer Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. for supposedly faking the loan applications of almost 400 borrowers of the home financing program. “I challenge you to file falsification case against him [Globe Asiatique chairman and president Delfin Lee]," Enrile told Pag-IBIG officials during the Senate hearing on the housing loan controversy. Enrile said filing the case will compel Lee to produce the alleged fake borrowers and have them examined in the court room. “We will punish him for lying here if he could not present anyone, if anyone of them is fake," he said. Lee can also be charged with estafa and Pag-IBIG with gross negligence, the senator said. “Don’t think you can get away here. Pananagutan nila ‘yun sa taong-bayan (They will answer to the people)," he said. Borrowers enticed Of the 9,145 loan accounts worth P6.68 billion that were given to Globe Asiatique by Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG’s corporate name), 944 have denied borrowing from the fund and 1,021 buyers could not be located, said John Cosico, Pag-IBIG legal and general counsel group vice president. Pag-IBIG also received reports of borrowers being enticed to sign loan documents in exchange for P1,000 to P5,000, said Pag-IBIG CEO Jaime Fabiana. The borrowers were supposedly availing themselves of Globe Asiatique’s Xevera, a low-cost housing project in Pampanga, according to Pag-IBIG. Lee denied the allegations, explaining that the buyers were either overseas Filipino workers, or were not at home, or were simply could not be reached by Pag-IBIG inspectors. “They are not non-existent," he told the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions, and currencies during the hearing. About 400 of the supposedly fake borrowers were actually buyers who backed out of the deal, according to Lee who then read what he claimed was a letter from Pag-IBIG saying so. Fabiana, however, denied he had prior knowledge of the letter that was allegedly signed by Bayani Garcia, Pampanga branch manager of Pag-IBIG. Enrile said that Lee should produce affidavits showing that the borrowers were real buyers. “You better get the affidavits of these people. You cannot tinker with the money of the people just like this," the senator said. Lee countered that Pag-IBIG should produce the documents. “Sila ang nagke-claim na may fake borrowers, sila siguro ang mag dokumento (They’re the ones claiming that there were fake borrowers, maybe they should do the documentation)," he said. Spurious accounts The sworn statement of those buyers will prove whether or not there was connivance between Pag-IBIG and Globe Asiatique, Enrile said. “Ang suspetsa ko merong collusion... Kung may lilitaw na protektor diyan, titingnan natin (I suspect that there was collusion… If a protector will surface there, we shall see)," he told reporters after the hearing. Fabiana told the Senate committee that Pag-IBIG officials learned during one of their senior management meetings that the Pampanga branch had “stopped" the post-validation of loan applications for Xevera. “At that time we were alarmed," he said, adding that that was when they discovered the alleged “spurious" accounts. But Pag-IBIG officer-in-charge Emma Linda Faria said that when the Xevera accounts were discovered, the management initiated “corrective" measures under the housing loan guidelines. Globe Asiatique’s access to the housing loan express lane facility was suspended, and it’s authority to do loan counseling and mandatory pre-takeout inspection of housing units were cancelled, Faria told the committee. Faria earlier said that the Pag-IBIG officers involved were asked to explain why they should not be sanctioned for not validating the loan accounts. Special treatment Globe Asiatique probably got special treatment from Pag-IBIG because the company was granted a “one-of-a-kind" deal to build the Xevera township project, Enrile said. Here, Lee defended Pag-IBIG. “In fairness, they are not like that," he said. He also told the committee he has been working with Pag-IBIG for 16 years that the housing fund officials trust that he would not make any trouble for them. In fact, he said, Globe Asiatique has been paying for the monthly amortization of all the borrowers under them. “Ako po ang biktima dito. The moment na hindi sila magbayad ako ang mananagot dito (I’m the victim here. The moment that they don’t pay, I’m the one who is answerable here)," he said. The Xevera township project boasted first-class amenities, including clubhouse and multi-purpose hall, sports center, swimming pool, parks and playgrounds, church, school, and public market. The housing units follow a typical townhouse model with two-bedroom partition and a floor area of 45.2 square meters. At least P12.6 billion worth of Globe Asiatique’s projects are tied to Pag-IBIG loans, according to Pag-IBIG. Globe Asiatique temporarily stopped operating because of all the negative publicity in the last two months related to the Pag-IBIG housing loan mess, Lee said. —JE/VS/OMG, GMANews.TV