BACOLOR, Pampanga- Hundreds of homeowners in controversial Globe Asiatique’s (GA) Xevera housing projects here and Mabalacat City have received foreclosure notices from the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) or Pag-IBIG Fund, but they have cried foul over this development.
Ramon Recto, 56, director of the Homeowners’ Association of Xevera- Bacolor, said in an interview yesterday that in his area alone, 223 homeowners have received forfeiture notices from Pag-IBIG, amid their alleged failure to pay monthly amortizations for their housing units. He said hundreds more have received such notices at Xevera in Mabalacat City.
The Xevera projects are the subject of controversies between HDMF and Globe Asiatique President Delfin Lee who has remained detained at the Pampanga provincial jail on charges of syndicated estafa allegedly involving P6.6 billion funds. Lee has insisted the case against him was merely politically motivated.
Recto said that he confirmed from Pag-IBIG that 162 homeowners have already abandoned their units at Xevera-Bacolor amid deteriorating situation in their area. The units are titled to Pag-IBIG, he noted. This is on top of 223 units up for foreclosure by Pag-IBIG, and more units also slated to be foreclosed at Xevera- Mabalacat arising from the alleged failure of the housing beneficiaries to pay their amortizations religiously.
Lee said he had infused some P2 billion of his own money to develop Xevera in Bacolor and Mabalacat City and that he never borrowed funds from Pag-IBIG. He also said he had almost P600 milllion in the hands of Pag-IBIG as funds from which the agency could draw in case of failure to comply with any financial commitment.
Recto said those who received foreclosure notices were taken by surprise, since they were aware that while they might have failed to pay their amortizations in the recent months, Pag-IBIG was supposed to recover the funds from the P600 million fund that the GA had entrusted to the agency.
“That P600 million is some kind of a safety net for Pag-IBIG, so that if GA fails to remit amortizations, Pag-IBIG could charge the deficiency against the fund “ he said.
Recto also noted that “under the scrapped MOA, the buy-back period for GA is five years, instead of the usual two years granted to developers.” He noted that many homeowners at Xevera were not able to pay their housing amortizations amid their confusion caused by controversies over the projects.
When HDMF scrapped in 2010 the authority of GA to collect amortizations, the agency also refused to accept payments for six months, thus leading to accumulated debts that some were not able to pay.
“This means that GA is obligated to pay Pag- IBIG monthly amortizations over awarded units even if the beneficiary himself has not been paying. So the obligation of the beneficiary is supposed to be to GA, not to Pag-IBIG, which is in possession of GA funds,” he added.
“We are the real victims of what’s happening between Pag-IBIG and GA,” said Recto, who said he is a half-brother of Sen Ralph Recto. He noted deteriorating facilities and services at the Xevera projects since HDMF withdrew its memorandum of agreement with GA in 2010, virtually removing from Lee the authority to collect amortizations and even maintain the housing projects.
Recto said his association had formally written Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay, chair of HUDCC, to seek help, but there has been no response. Close to 10,000 families now reside at Xeveral subdivisons here and in Mabalacat.
“Our first letter was sent two and a half years ago, seeking help for the security needs in our subdivision, but there was no reply at all. The second was sent last year, asking that foreclosure of our units violated our rights,”” he said.
Recto noted that before Pag-IBIG virtually kicked out GA from Xevera- Bacolor, the developer had provided them 89 security personnel to cover some 4,000 housing units spread over 40 hectares of the subdivision.
Now, the homeowners association could afford only 10 guards amid growing cases of robberies.
