DOJ orders filing of raps vs Globe Asiatique owner

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has ordered the Pasig City Prosecutor's Office to file a criminal case against Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corporation owner Delfin Lee for the alleged "double sale" of a house in Rizal province. In a five-page resolution approved by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, the DOJ dismissed Lee's petition to reverse an earlier resolution that recommends the filing of a case against him before the Pasay Regional Trial Court. The Justice department said there was sufficient evidence that the Globe Asiatique property sold to one Mailene Coloma in 2004 was also sold to a certain Michael Pascual in 2005. "As regards the issue on whether or not there was a double sale, the record shows that respondent admitted that it sold the property subject to the complaint to Michael Pascual in February of 2005, or three months after it has sold the same to complainant. Printed billing statements for the account of Pascual would confirm this. Clearly, there was a double sale," said the DOJ resolution. As of posting time, GMA News Online is stlil trying to reach Lee's lawyer, Reynold Munsayac, for comment. Lee, along with other Globe Asiatique officials, is also facing a separate string of syndicated estafa charges at the DOJ over the allegedly fraudulent sale of properties in Pampanga. The four criminal complaints are still awaiting resolution from the DOJ panel led by Senior State Prosecutor Emilia Victorio. In upholding its earlier resolution, the DOJ said there is probable cause to charge Lee for violation of “The Subdivision and Condominium Buyers Protective Decree" or Presidential Decree No. 957, which imposes penalties on fraudulent real estate trade practices. Coloma's compaint In her complaint, Coloma alleged that the Globe Asiatique property she purchased in Rizal province in October 2004 was also sold to a certain Michael Pascual. Coloma said in August 2005, she found out that Globe Asiatique did not register with the Register of Deeds in her name the property she was occupying. Coloma tried to cancel the sales contract with the company but a Globe Asiatique representative persuaded her not to do so, she said. The Pasig City Prosecutor's Office has junked Coloma's complaint for lack of evidence, prompting the complainant to file a petition for review at the DOJ. The DOJ then favored Coloma and ordered the Pasay City Prosecutor's Office to reverse its decision and file charges against Lee. The businessman then made an appeal, but it was junked by the Justice department. The DOJ said: "In the instant case, respondent (Lee), as President of Globe Asiatique, undoubtedly allowed Cristina Sagun, the head of the Marketing and Documentation Office of GA, to enter into contracts to sell or a semblance thereof with interested buyers of a unit in the Santa Barbara Villas II as he has not, in the first instance, repudiated the acts of Sagun in previous transactions," the resolution stated. “It is only now that he has done so in order to extricate himself from criminal liability." - VVP, GMA News