‘Ghost’ buyers appear in housing scam probe

Complainants on the PAG-IBIG-Globe Asiatique housing projects at the Senate committee hearing on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement. INQUIRER PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

MANILA, Philippines— “Ako po ay isa sa mga ghost buyers (I’m  one of   the ghost buyers).”

This was how 46 year-old Josephine Cedo  introduced herself when she faced  the Senate committee on urban, planning, housing and resettlement  hearing  on Tuesday on the  housing loan   scam  involving  Globe Asiatique (GA) Realty Holdings  Corp.

In exchange of P1,500, Cedo she said agreed  to fill up a housing  loan  application offered to her by   people  from the  GA, who she said promised her that she could  own  the house located at Xevera Bacolor  in Pampanga  if she could pay the monthly mortgage.

But she said  she was not a member of the Home Development Mutual  Fund  (HDMF) or Pag-IBIG Fund nor her husband,  who is just a contractual employee.

“May bayad na P1,500  kaya go-mo ako (There was a P1,500 payment so I said okay),”  Cedo said.

But the truth is, Cedo said she  could not  pay the  monthly the mortgage .

“Talagang di ko po kayang mag-avail ng monthly (mortgage). Siyempre nangailangan ako, P1,500 so go pirma lang (I really can’t avail  the monthly mortgage. Of course I needed money, that’s P1, 500 so  I signed it),” she said.

In 2010, however, Cedo said she received a letter from Pag-IBIG fund informing her that  the real estate firm was no longer authorized to collect the  amortization payments and that she should pay directly to any  Pag-IBIG branch or office.

“Bakit ako magbabayad e hindi naman ako nag loan?  (Why will I pay,  I did not apply for  a loan?)

Asked if she have already seen the  unit, Cedo said: “Hindi po. Hindi ko pa po nakita  ‘yon. Sa picture lang po. (No. I haven’t seen it. Only in pictures)”

Like Cedo,  40-year-old Juliet  Paguibulan, a caretaker  in a school in Olongapo City, also agreed to fill up a housing loan in exchange of P1,500.

Paguibulan said she was approached by two males who  claimed to be from the GA and offered  her to fill-up the form in exchange of the said amount. She was also told that she could own the house if she would pay the monthly amortization.

The P1,500 pay, she said, was for “food and allowance” since she had to go to Xevera Mabalacat in Pampanga.

Asked if she had any plan at all  to apply for a housing  loan, Paguibulan answered  in the negative.

In fact,  she  said she was just surprised that the media  came and interviewed her  and told her that she had a house with  a title under her name but had  been sold to another buyer.

“Sabi ko nga po, paano ako magkakaroon ng house and lot, may title  wala akong pinanghahawakan.  Ni ID ng Pag-IBIG, wala po,”  she said.

Forty-four-year-old Evelyn Niebres, who lives in Xevera Mabalacat,  had  a different story.

“Andito po ako sa harap nyo bilang biktma nga GA…(I’m in front of you as a victim of the GA),”  she told the committee.

She said she paid n P1.537 million cash for two units only to find out later that the  properties had been mortgaged to another person.

“Ilang buwan na nag-aalala ako. Hindi ako makatulog, nag iisip, hindi makakain ng maayos. Inaalala na  baka biglang may dumating sa bahay namin at bigla kaming paalisin o ilitin iyong bahay ko,” Niebres said.

When she bought the properties from the GA,  she said she was only given  an OR  (official receipt) and a certification that she was the owner.  But the developer, she said,   the title of the units  will be given to her  within three to six months.

“Umabot isang taon wala po silang na i-provide sa akin,” she said.  It was then that she decided to file against the GA.

The case of Mary Anne Nocum was also a different case.

She has been living   for almost a year  in a house she brought from the  GA in San Mateo Rizal when she received a letter from Pag-IBIG addressed to a different person.

“Nag abroad ako dati, ito na lang yung huling ipon ko. Isinugal ko po na makabili ng bahay dito. Actually wala pong nakakaalam na bumili ako ng bahay dito. Gusto ko silang isorpresa, ang ending ako po iyong nasorpresa…”  Nocum said.

She said she also knew of some people, who bought a house  from the GA but later found out that it was still being sold to another person or another person was claiming it.

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