Senate subpoenas Globe Asiatique head

The Senate has issued a subpoena on property developer Globe Asiatique chairman and president Delfin Lee, summoning him to a hearing on the housing loan mess involving Pag-IBIG Fund and his company. Sen. Sergio "Serge" Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies, invoked section 17 of the Senate rules to summon Lee to his committee's hearing on Thursday morning. "You are hereby commanded to appear and testify under oath in the public hearing of the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions, and currencies joint with the commitee on urban planning, housing, and resettlement," Osmeña said in the subpoena. Emma Linda Faria, officer-in-charge of the Pag-IBIG Fund, earlier said that Globe Asiatique took out at least P6.6 billion in housing loan proceeds for buyers of its housing projects in Pampanga. However, the units were not yet completed, or were below standard, unoccupied, or closed. Some of the buyers were also allegedly fake Pag-IBIG members or ineligible for membership while others used spurious loan accounts. Faria said there were about 10,000 valid buyers. However, 1,000 borrowers could not be located; 400 others had already claimed their loans; and 200 borrowers lacked documentary requirements. In October, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile dared Pag-IBIG Fund officials to file falsification charges against Lee for supposedly faking the loan applications. - VVP, GMANews.TV