CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Jailed Globe Asiatique President Delfin Lee has retained some optimism he would still be able to “tell all” at the Senate which recently cancelled its hearing on his syndicated estafa case after the court here barred him from leaving his cell.
Lee’s legal counsel Willie Rivera said Lee has petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 42, presided by Judge Amifaith Fider-Reyes, from hearing the estafa case.
Lee has remained at the provincial jail here after his arrest last March 6 for alleged syndicated estafa involving P7 billion funds of Pag-IBIG in Xevera housing projects in Mabalacat and Bacolor in Pampanga.
The petition said RTC Branch 42 “committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack and/ or excess of jurisdiction when it hastily arraigned petitioner-accused Delfin Lee despite the pendency of several consolidated petitions before this Honorable Supreme Court.”
The review pending before the Supreme Court was petitioned by the Department of Justice in regard to verdict of the Court of Appeals (CA) declaring the absence of probable cause against Lee for alleged syndicated estafa. The CA has also found no probable cause against Lee’s co-accused Alex Alvarez and Christina Sagun.
Lee was arrested last March 6 on the strength of a warrant earlier issued by RTC Branch 42 which arraigned him on March 14 despite the pending review of the CA decision that not only cleared Lee of the charges, but also lifted the initial arrest order against him, as well as those of his two other co-accused in separate decisions.
In a recent interview, Lee stressed that while the Supreme Court later issued a temporary restraining order against
the lifting of his arrest order, the High Court did not touch on the CA decisions finding no probable cause against Lee and his co-accused and that the RTC was thus bound to respect the orders of the appellate court.
The Senate invited Lee to attend a hearing of its committee on urban planning, housing and resettlement last May 15, but the RTC barred him from attending on the basis of his case being sub judice. The Senate committee then deferred indefinitely the public hearing on the alleged Globe Asiatique anomaly.
“Since Mr. Lee’s testimony is principal for the Senate investigation to continue, the committee has therefore deemed it necessary to defer the hearing until further notice,” said committee chair Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito.
Even before the supposed May 15 committee hearing, Lee had vowed to “tell all” before the Senate, expressing confidence that at least Sen. Teofi sto Guingona Jr. of the Senate blue ribbon committee would take interest and dig deeper into his case.
Lee stressed that he never borrowed funds from Pag-IBIG. “I had a seed capital of P1.5 billion of my own money when I put up Xevera housing in Bacolor (Pampanga) out of the P2.7 billion of Globe Asiatique network, my earnings from 20 years as real estate developer,” he said.
“It was a housing project I dreamed of, because I myself did not grow up in a privileged community. I envisioned a place where residents are near the municipal hall, the church and the school,” he recalled.
