MANILA, Philippines?Former Vice President Noli de Castro yesterday disclosed that he was aware of possible irregularities regarding realty firm Globe Asiatique?s loan arrangements with the government in March this year and had ordered an investigation.

?Last March, I got such information from our stakeholders about this and I asked the Pag-Ibig management to investigate, which they did. I told them to do what they had to do based on our policies,? De Castro said in an interview over Radyo Inquirer 990.

De Castro was at the time chair of the board of trustees of the Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-Ibig, by virtue of his being the chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

Vice President Jejomar Binay is now the HUDCC chair and also Pag-Ibig board chair.

De Castro said that he was not able to follow through on the investigation because the election campaign had started. He said he did not get the final report by the investigators before he stepped down from office on June 30.

He said Jaime Fabiana, Pag-Ibig?s chief executive officer, would be in a position to reveal the findings of the investigation.

?The board was not in charge of day-to-day operations. We approved policies. We and the developers help each other since they are our stakeholders. If there are problems, we investigate first,? he said.

However, he said the Pag-Ibig board approved the Globe Asiatique project.

?We saw the project and we approved it,? he said, adding that Globe Asiatique?s pioneering venture became more relevant with the passage of Republic Act No. 9679 or the Home Development Mutual Fund Law of 2009, which, among others, included overseas Filipino workers and the self-employed in the Pag-Ibig fund.