Delfin Lee: Blame Pag-Ibig, not me

By: Gil C. Cabacungan - 11 years ago

Delfin Lee. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

It’s the government’s Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), or Pag-Ibig Fund, that is responsible for defrauding legitimate home buyers who got caught up in the P6.6-billion Globe Asiatique scam, GA owner Delfin Lee insists.

In a motion for oral arguments filed in the Supreme Court (SC) by his counsel on April 14, Lee said the alleged ghost buyers of GA’s Xevera town homes in Mabalacat and Bacolor, Pampanga, were “actually the defaulting buyers or borrowers whose memberships were certified to by HDMF through its own form known as the Membership Status Verification Slip which included a 30-day post-validation process.”

Lee said he himself was a victim of the scam as Pag-Ibig was responsible for approving the loans of the unqualified buyers, whom it had branded as fictitious or ghost.

Lee also told the court in his petition that there could have been no “double sale” of housing units since the buyers had signed “contracts to sell” and not “deeds of absolute sale.”

“Obviously, a contract to sell is only a promise to sell subject to fulfillment of the condition the purchase price is paid in full, as well as compliance with the other terms. How can there be a double sale in this situation (when the contract to sell had been canceled due to a failure to comply with conditions)? Besides, the titles are still in the name of Globe Asiatique, a clear indication that there was no double sale,” Lee said.

The developer was adamant in his request the SC conduct oral arguments so he could present the “real story” of the scam, which was a dispute between Pag-Ibig officers and GA management.

“This case is not really imbued with public interest because this is just a simple case of failure of petitioner [HDMF]…to honor its obligations under the contract, e.g. refusal to deliver to the hapless Filipino buyers the titles to their fully paid properties which petitioner is unnecessarily withholding to paint the scenario that [GA] is the one at fault,” Lee said.

He also pointed out that in all the nine appeals filed by HDMF and the Department of Justice that are pending in the Supreme Court, 27 Court of Appeals justices and two Regional Trial Court judges sided with GA.