Globe Asiatique denies anomaly in housing projects

The owner of real estate developer Globe Asiatique on Monday turned the tables on state-owned Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) in connection with the estafa complaints he is facing over his firm's alleged fraudulent housing projects. At the sidelines of a Department of Justice (DOJ) clarificatory hearing on the syndicated estafa complaints against him, Delfin Lee said Globe Asiatique had complied with Pag-IBIG’s requirements under its buy-back guarantee. “The whole issue has gone out of proportion. It all boils down to the very basic," Lee told reporters. Lee and several other Globe Asiatique personnel are facing at least three syndicated estafa complaints over the alleged creation of fictitious buyers to take out P6.6-billion in housing loans from Pag-IBIG. During the hearing, Pag-IBIG officer-in-charge Emma Faria said that a post-validation by Pag-IBIG’s Pampanga branch showed that Globe Asiatique used fake buyers and fraudulent documents to secure loans from Pag-IBIG. She said that there are 200 housing developers under Pag-IBIG’s Window-1 program. However, Globe Asiatique supposedly took advantage of the program’s terms to defraud Pag-IBIG. Pag-IBIG had already blacklisted Globe Asiatique for its alleged failure to assume responsibility for the unpaid loans of the buyers of its Xevera housing projects in Pampanga province. For housing developers to be accredited, they have to guarantee against fraudulent borrowers and transactions. Developers also have to pay (buy-back) Pag-IBIG unpaid loans of its buyers. On Monday, Lee said that Globe Asiatique had complied with terms imposed in the buy-back guarantee. Turning the tables on Pag-IBIG, Lee said: “Sa buy-back, either i-update namin yung account kung di pa nakakapaghulog [ang buyer] or palitan namin ng another buyer, o bayaran namin ang utang niya. Those are three ways to buy back, and the whole problem is ayaw kami payagan [ng Pag-IBIG]." (In buy-back, it’s either we update the account, replace the buyer, or pay the buyer’s debts. Those are three ways to buy back, but the whole problem is Pag-IBIG does not allow us to do that.) — Sophia Dedace/KBK/JE, GMA News