Citing several reasons why there is now an urgent need for Pag- IBIG to start processing their respective housing loans, the group representing some 1,700 affected home buyers are pressing the housing fund agency to start accepting their monthly payments and re-establish their respective records among others.
In a letter to Pag- IBIG President-CEO Darlene Berberabe and to the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) the group aired their appeal to the two agencies for the “quick resolution” of their predicament almost four years ago when court cases broke out between Pag- IBIG Fund and the project developer, Globe Asiatique, headed by Delfin Lee.
In the same letter the residents bewailed the risk of being dispossessed of their homes. “Pag IBIG Fund claims to be the victim of fraud allegedly perpetrated by one of its housing developers. On the other hand, Delfin Lee and his development company GlobeAsiatique claims to be victims of political persecution.
But while this matter languishes in court, the real victims of your acts and that of your agency continue to suffer,” the letter stated.
Calling themselves “the real victims in the housing controversy,” Santos and the residents of the two subdivisions said that as buyers in good faith and borrowers from Pag-IBIG in good faith, their respective balance payments should be accepted by the Home Development Mutual Fund (HMDF or Pag-IBIG).
“Bakit po kami ang naiipit? Nakarating na po tayo sa Korte Suprema. Kailan po ba matatapos ang kalbaryo namin?” they asked.
Since some buyers are reportedly hesitant to continue with their installments because of uncertainty, the residents are appealing to government to give them the assurance that their right to acquire the housing units they paid for will be protected.
“We worked hard to contribute to Pag-IBIG. The Fund is our money, the people’s money, the members’ money. It is not the government’s money. If only to afford decent housing, we are made to borrow our own money and pay interest on it. We have no choice, because this is the system foisted on us. But we accept the system if only to press on with our right to decent shelter,” the letter stated further.
They also appealed to Berberabe to protect not just Pag-IBIG as an institution, but its members and borrowers as well, whose welfare and interests are kept in the balance while Lee languishes in jail.
“At least he (Lee) can get his day in court; his chance to prove his innocence,” they said. “But what about us? How and to whom do we prove that we are the real victims here? Do we also get our day in court?” they asked.
Almost four year ago, on January 30, 2012, a Makati City trial court already ruled that it was Pag-IBIG that was guilty of breaching its contract with Globe Asiatique and that Pag- IBIG should not be allowed to escape liability with impunity by simply alleging that the defaulting buyers-borrowers are fictitious and spurious.
The court also ruled that based on admitted and undisputed evidence, that Pag-IBIG approved all the fund membership and loan applications of the buyer-borrowers and post-validated their eligibility for loans.
By these premises, the residents are asking how it is that they, as buyers in good faith of the Xevera housing projects in Pampanga through a P6.65-billion agreement between Asiatique, be deemed as spurious buyers.
