THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has suffered a legal setback after the Court of Appeals (CA) dismissed the P6.1-billion syndicated estafa charges against the co-accused of real estate

tycoon Delfin Lee arising from the P6.6-billion loans given by the Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-ibig Fund, to the company through “special buyers” and “ghost borrowers.”

The CA’s Special 10th Division in a 34-page ruling partiallygranted the petition for certiorari and prohibition filed by petitioner Christina Sagun, documentation head of Globe Asiatique (GA), where Lee is the president.

According to the ruling dated October 5, 2012, the DOJ committed grave abuse of discretion when it included Sagun as one of the accused in the case.

In its ruling, the appeals court stated that Sagun sufficiently proved that she had no knowledge or participation in the supposed GA questionable transactions.

The appellate tribunal further held that the department erred in saying that it found probable cause to indict Sagun in court for the said crime.

The case stemmed from the DOJ’s indictment of Lee and other GA officials—his son Dexter, the company’s executive vice president and chief finance officer; Sagun, former chief of GA’s documentation department; Cristina Salagan, head of the company’s accounting/finance department.

The manager of Pag-ibig’s foreclosure department—lawyer Alex Alvarez—was also indicted.

The respondents allegedly conspired to use fake borrowers to become “instant” Pag-ibig members, so that they could get housing loans, which after confirmation showed that some purported buyers had no knowledge of having availed of the loans to buy housing units at Xevera Bacolor subdivision in Bacolor town, Pampanga province.

GA was allegedly able to get over P6 billion in loans from Pag-ibig, representing 9,951 accounts, for two years.

Pag-IBIG signed an agreement with GA for the piloting of the special membership program through the Xevera Bacolor Project on June 20, 2008.

Pursuing the fight
THE government will appeal the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) dismissing the syndicated estafa case filed against an executive of housing developer Globe Asiatique (GA).

Vice President Jejomar Binay on Thursday directed housing lawyers to file a motion for reconsideration before the CA following its ruling that the syndicated estafa case against GA executive was junked.

 “We will pursue our fight for justice for the ordinary Filipino workers who have been victimized by Globe Asiatique. We are confident the CA will reconsider its decision,” he said.

Binay is also the chairman of Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Board of Home Development Mutual (Pag-Ibig) Fund.

HUDCC Assistant Secretary Danilo Subido described the CA’s decision as “hollow victory” for GA, saying that the Pampanga Regional Trial Court had already issued arrest warrants for the five accused.

With a report from Ritchie A. Horario