Housing developer Delfin Lee, charged with syndicated estafa for allegedly tapping close to P7 billion from the Pag-Ibig Fund using bogus buyers, is locked behind bars at the Pampanga provincial jail. TONETTE T. OREJAS/INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON
MANILA, Philippines – It’ll be helpful if Vice President Jejomar Binay would reveal the name of the influential person who supposedly attempted to block Delfin Lee’s arrest, Malacañang said Wednesday.
“I suppose if there is someone really backing Delfin Lee…let us know who this person is baka pwede pang isama sa kaso (perhaps he can be included in the case),” Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing.
The spokesperson said it is part of the government’s commitment to prosecute those involved in the housing scam.
Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas earlier said in a television interview that Binay should mention the name of the said influential person to prevent “intrigue and innuendo,” especially after he was accused of delisting Lee from the most wanted persons list.
“I think that the most responsible thing for the Vice President is to actually say who is trying to prevent the arrest [of Lee],” Roxas said on Tuesday.
“Other than just simply giving general, nameless, baseless, attributable-less information which just sow intrigue and innuendo,” he continued.
Roxas was accused of taking part in delisting Lee from the Philippine National Police’s official list of Most Wanted Persons in the country.
A day after Lee’s arrest last Thursday, Vice President and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig) chair Jejomar Binay revealed in a press briefing that “certain influential people” attempted to stop the police from bringing in the fugitive.
Binay, however, did not identify these persons.
But Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso “Boy” Umali admitted to no less than President Benigno Aquino III that he phoned in PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima to clarify the basis of Lee’s arrest.
The local official said his action was upon the request of his acquaintance and province-mate, Lee’s counsel, Lawyer Gilbert Repizo.
Umali, who is a close ally of Aquino, is the treasurer of the Liberal Party while Roxas is its president-on-leave.
“So who exactly is trying to prevent the arrest? Because certainly, I did not. I have zero conversation with the PNP Director General Alan Purisima until this morning about this matter,” he said.
Roxas added that when the issue came out, he met with Purisima and ordered the PNP chief to look into the matter.
The camp of the Globe Asiatique president questioned the legality of his arrest warrant following the Court of Appeals decision quashing the arrest order for Lee and four others for syndicated estafa.
But earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court stopped the implementation of the Court of Appeals ruling that lifted the warrant of arrest issued against Lee.
This means Lee will stay in jail. He is currently detained at the Pampanga City Jail.