[ manilastandardtoday.com] September 8, 2011
Delfin Lee, president of Globe Asiatique, has decided to break his silence saying he caused no harm to Pag-IBIG or the Home Development Mutual Fund.
“The charges against us are a total lie. We did not borrow P6.6 billion. We did not defraud the government of a single centavo. We spent our own money to develop the Xevera projects,” Lee said in a statement sent to Manila Standard.
Last week, Lee obtained a temporary restraining order from a Pasig Regional Trial Court stopping the Department of Justice from filing a criminal case against him.
On Monday, Pasig RTC Branch 167 Judge Rolando Mislang issued a writ of preliminary injunction restraining the DOJ from filing estafa case against Lee and from proceeding with the preliminary investigation of another estafa case pending the resolution of a civil case Lee filed against HDMF before the Makati RTC Branch 58.
Judge Mislang noted the estafa cases and the civil case pending before the Makati RTC filed in November 2010 were similar or intimately related with each other and thus poses a prejudicial question which must first be resolved.
Lee said P6.6 billion was released to Globe Asiatique to cover almost 10,000 units in the Xevera projects after they were applied for and occupied by Pag-IBIG members.
“How can the Pag-Ibig Fund be disadvantaged when all the properties are secured and Pag-IBIG can sell the houses and lots to recover its funds in case all other legal options fail?” he said noting that Globe Asiatique had a P600 million with Pag-IBIG in escrow along with retention fund and pending takeout proceeds among the safety nets.
But Pag-IBIG, said Lee, refused to accept payments from Globe Asiatique or the replacement of defaulting buyers under the trms of agreement.
“This is now the subject of a civil case before the Makati RTC Branch 58. Pag-IBIG’s damage is self-inflicted,” he said, noting that there were no ghost buyers but merely defaulting borrowers.
“We are the guarantor of the buyers. If the buyer does not pay we have to update. If they are no longer interested in the units, we look for other buyers or replace with new buyers.”
Lee said Pag-IBIG certified the members and the loans and should answer for its own lapses.
The DoJ on Aug. 24 recommended the filing of syndicated estafa against Lee; son, Dexter, GA executive vice president and chief finance officer; Christina Sagun, former head of GA’s Documentation Department; Cristina Salagan, head of GA’s Accounting/Finance Department; and lawyer Alex Alvarez, manager of the Foreclosure Department of Pag-IBIG. Gigi Muñoz David
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