Binay lauds P2M bounty on Delfin Lee

Delfin Lee. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Vice President Jejomar Binay said that the P2 million bounty for the capture of Globe Asiatique owner Delfin Lee is proof of President Benigno Aquino III‘s drive to give justice to Lee’s housing scam victims.

“This only shows that the President is determined to bring to justice those who are being oppressed,” Binay said in an interview after the Bahay Bonds 2 project listing in the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corporation(PDEX) Friday.

Aquino on Thursday raised the bounties for the country’s most wanted fugitives. It was reported that the move was made because Aquino was “displeased with the lack of progress” in arresting retired general Jovito  Palparan, former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes and his brother Mario, Dinagat Representative Ruben Ecleo, and communist guerrilla chiefs Benito Tiamzon and Jorge Madlos.

Lee, his son Dexter, and three officers of Globe Asiatique had standing warrants of arrest for syndicated estafa in connection with Globe Asiatique’s Xevera housing projects in Bacolor and Mabalacat towns in Pampanga province.

On May 22, Judge Maria Amifaith Fider-Reyes of the Pampanga RTC found probable cause against Lee and his co-accused and issued warrants for their arrest with no recommendation for bail.

Binay, in the interview, stressed that Lee was accused of using “ghost borrowers” and fake documents to obtain over P6.5 billion in loans from the Home Development Mutual Fund for its Xevera housing project.

He added that most of the victims of Lee were ordinary workers who had “dreams of owning their own houses.”