AS MUCH for Delfin Lee as for the thousands of homeowners in his Xevera developments in Bacolor, Pampanga and Mabalacat City who have kept faith in him is Lee’s full vindication that came with RTC Branch 41 Judge Joel C. Bantasan granting on Feb. 25 the demurrer to evidence that effectively acquitted Lee and four other co-accused of the crime of estafa.
The case stemmed from alleged use of “ghost borrowers” to get ₱6.6 billion housing loans from the Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG fund, from 2008 to 2011. For which Lee was arrested in 2014 and detained at the Pampanga Provincial Jail for four years and a half before allowed to post bail by the Supreme in 2018.
In a 7-5 vote with two abstentions, the High Court dismissed the petition filed in 2014 by the Department of Justice and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) seeking the reversal of a Pampanga Regional Trial Court (RTC) ruling in 2013. It also lifted the temporary restraining order it issued in March 2014 that prevented Lee’s release from the jail as ordered by the Court of Appeals.
In November 2013, the CA ordered the Pampanga RTC to terminate the trial of the charges against Lee and recall the arrest warrant against him. But the DOJ and Pag-IBIG filed a temporary restraining order with the SC preventing the CA ruling from being implemented.
That it took all of 12 years – over four in detention – before this acquittal bemoans that travesty of justice delivery gone so trite it has become a truism. That Lee was even taken to court, much less jailed, is even the greater tragedy.
For, everything about Delfin Lee was all too grand in goodness to warrant even an iota of wrongdoing, more so a syndicated estafa scheme. Indeed, everything about Delfin Lee was celebratory in those times, as chronicled in the local media, to wit:
AUGUST 2008. “Xevera is the best thing that happened to Bacolor, getting richer not just in terms of income but pride and honor as well. This project gives a chance to poor people to own their own houses at a very beautiful site.”
So lauded Mayor Romeo Dungca at the turnover ceremony of the Xevera housing project in Barangay Calibutbut presided over by Vice President Noli De Castro and Globe Asiatique’s Delfin Lee in the presence of Pag- IBIG president-CEO Atty. Miro Quimbo.
JANUARY 2009. “This is a phenomenon. I haven’t seen one quite like this in the whole country.”
Thus, said Oriental Mindoro Rep. Rodolfo Valencia, chair of the House of Representatives committee on housing and urban development, as he toured the Xevera housing project in Barangay Tabun, Mabalacat.
“This (Xevera) should be imitated by other developers,” said Valencia, who himself is in the real estate business.
JANUARY 2009. “Bili na kayo. P5,000 lang a month at walang down payment.”
A jovial President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called out as she inspected three townhouses at the P6-billion Xevera housing project in Barangay Tabun. She first graced the Lakas-CMD caucus at Holiday Inn Resort-Clark before proceeding to the new P70-million Mabalacat town hall donated by Xevera developer Delfin Lee of Globe Asiatique.
“They’re beautiful and affordable,” Arroyo told Lee and Subic Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC) chairman Sec. Edgardo Pamintuan as they went inside the two-storey houses costing about P5,000 a month through Pag-IBIG funds.
“Ah, simbahan ya pala (oh, it’s a church),” said the beaming President as she took notice of the Sanctuario de San Angelo.
Arroyo, wearing a red dress, witnessed Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales hand over to Lee a resolution making him “adopted son of Mabalacat for his immense contribution to the development of the first-class municipality.”
APRIL 2009. SCADC chairman Pamintuan described Lee as “a silent developer, unassuming and self-effacing.” He added that as a friend, “Lee won’t forget you.”
Deng Pangilinan, two-time president of the Pampanga Press Club, said Lee is a “decent man who has genuine heart for the poor.”
“It’s a dream come true for the press to have houses of their own. It took a private individual to make that possible,” said Pangilinan.
MAY 2009. Education Secretary Jesli Lapus led the turnover of the P100-million integrated school at Xevera-Mabalacat, bolstering this town’s commitment to provide free quality education.
Lapus, Xevera Developer Delfin Lee, ABS-CBN executive Gina Lopez and other regional Department of Education officials signed the deed of donation for the school named after Asuncion Lee, mother of Delfin.
Lapus expressed elation over the “beautiful school,” saying as if “you are in California when you are in Xevera.”
JUNE 2009. A housing subdivision recently cited by the United Nations and government officials for plotting the template of urban development in the country, was once again mentioned as the number one factor in the 92% growth rate of the housing loan takeout of Pag-IBIG Fund in Northern and Central Luzon.
“It’s unprecedented,” said newly appointed Pag-IBIG Fund CEO Jaime Fabiaña during an interview with journalists at the Developers’ Forum of the Pag-IBIG Fund Home Development Mutual Fund held at the Holiday Land function hall in the City of San Fernando.
Fabiaña, who gave the opening remarks during the forum, said the Xevera housing projects in Bacolor and Mabalacat in Pampanga have greatly contributed to the rise in their housing loan takeout. “Saan ka makakakita ng subdivision na kumpleto?” Mayroon nang eskuwelahan, munisipyo, palengke at iba pa.”
The Pag-IBIG CEO went on to praise Xevera for a having a “buyback” program of five years instead of only two years. He explained that Xevera is classified under window number one where processing is done much less because of its proven track record and reputation.
OCTOBER 2015. Even in jail, Delfin Lee was never wanting in laudations for the good that he has done.
“Delfin Lee is the greatest miracle that has ever happened to my town. See how he transformed the howling wilderness of lahar that is Barangay Tabun, into the bustling, cosmopolitan community that is Xevera- Mabalacat,” hailed Mayor Boking Morales. “There is inherent goodness in his heart, so manifest in his willingness to invest, not only his material resources, but his very self in uplifting the dignity of his fellowmen, most especially the small people.’
Pampanga 1st District Rep. Carmelo “Tarzan” Lazatin speaking: “If there is one person that can help uplift the lives of Filipinos by solving the problem of informal settlers in the country, that will be Delfin Lee.”
The scion of Pampanga’s landed gentry could only gush in admiration: “I am also a developer but with what Delfin Lee did to Xevera, he upped the ante, making it a difficult challenge for us to emulate.”
THEN, AS NOW, the question remains: Why did Delfin Lee ever land in jail?
