Delfin Lee to file appeal with Supreme Court

By: Jerome Aning - 11 years ago

Real estate developer Delfin Lee. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Detained property developer Delfin Lee said on Sunday he would file a motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court, which recently junked his petition to hold oral arguments regarding the case he filed questioning his arrest for syndicated estafa.

“We will definitely file a motion for reconsideration of the denial of our motion for oral argument with the Supreme Court so that the cases would be decided on the merits,” Lee said in a statement issued through his lawyer Willy Rivera.

“We only would like to show the magistrates of the Supreme Court and Filipino people, that contrary to Home Development Mutual Fund’s (Pag-IBIG Fund’s) claims, we have not defrauded the government and the HDMF of a single centavo,” he said.

“It’s about time that our Supreme Court steps into this issue to bring back respect for law and order by our police and government officials, for the orderly administration of justice,” he added.

Lee earlier filed an urgent motion for oral argument with the Supreme Court in all the “consolidated appeals” filed before it, which consisted of at least nine petitions for review.

Last April 22, the high tribunal rejected for lack of merit Lee’s April 14 and 15 motions for oral arguments in the case related to his arrest.

Reacting to the denial of the court of his latest motion, Lee cited that Pag-IBIG, together with the Department of Justice (DOJ), “lost all the cases” against him and his company Globe Asiatique Realty Development Corp.

“In all the nine appeals filed by Pag-IBIG and DOJ now pending before the Supreme Court, at least 27 justices of the Court of Appeals and two Regional Trial Court judges sided with us, rendering judgments ranging from from a quashal of the information for syndicated estafa, recall and lifting of the warrants of arrest against me and my co-accused Christina Sagun and Attorney Alex Alvarez, and the dismissal of the syndicated estafa case against all of us for lack of probable cause for the crime of syndicated estafa,” he said.

“[This is] a declaration that Pag-IBIG breached its contracts with Globe Asiatique that resulted in all these fiasco. [However], we still remain languishing in jail.”

The businessman said the time has come for the Supreme Court to step into the issue “to bring back respect for law and order by our police and government officials, for the orderly administration of justice.”

The embattled housing developer insisted that the P6.6 billion being “flaunted” by Pag-IBIG in the media was not a loan of Globe Asiatique from the fund. The P6.6 billion were allegedly lent to “ghost borrowers” who had bought units in Globe Asiatique’s housing projects.

Lee recalled that even in the recent Senate hearing conducted by the committee on urban planning, Pag-IBIG president Darlene Berberabe admitted that the P6.6 billion was covered by an “end-users loan.”

The amount, Lee claimed, was the totality of the obligations of the Pag-IBIG members who bought the houses and lots at the Xevera projects of Globe Asiatique in Mabalacat City, Pampanga.

“This is precisely the reason why up to now, Pag-IBIG has not even sent us any demand letter for the alleged P6.6 billion claim. There is no pending case filed by Pag-IBIG against Globe Asiatique to claim this P6.6 billion,” he said.

“Globe Asiatique filed a civil case against Pag-IBIG for breach of contract but the agency filed a counter-claim for P12 million, which accounts for attorney’s fees and cost of litigation,” Lee said.

Lee was arrested last March 6 at a hotel in Manila.

The amount, Lee claimed, was the totality of the obligations of the Pag-IBIG members who bought the houses and lots at the Xevera projects of Globe Asiatique in Mabalacat City, Pampanga.