THE Commission on Audit has given the Pag-IBIG—Home Development Mutual Fund the green light to enlist the services of the Yorac Arroyo Chua Caedo and Coronel Law Firm to handle cases of housing irregularities involving Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. and its developer Delfin Lee.
In a five-page decision released on July 14, CoA’s Commission Proper ruled to partially grant the request of Pag-IBIG Fund to lift certain conditions earlier imposed by the CoA’s Office of the General Counsel, Legal Services Sector on the payment for legal services to the law firm.
CoA chairman Michael Aguinaldo, along with Commissioners Jose Fabia and Isabel Agito, affirmed that payment of hourly rate or time charge to lawyers appearing in various Globe Asiatique/Delfin Lee cases was allowable, citing the complicated nature of the lawsuits and the amount of assets involved.
CoA also granted to charge the out-of-pocket expenses, including claims for transportation and accommodation by the handling lawyers.
But its Commission Proper overruled the billing of additional acceptance or retainer fees amounting P200,000 for additional cases arising from the same issue on top of the P1 million already paid under the original retainer proposal.
Pag-IBIG raised from the four “highly complicated cases” of two counts of estafa, syndicated estafa, and specific performance and damages suit in 2010, the law firm is now handling 23 cases, including nine before the Supreme Court en banc and 10 pending before various Pampanga courts.
CoA declined granting additional P200,000 acceptance fees for the new cases “for being unreasonable.”
Lee and Global Asiatique were accused of double sale to various buyers of subdivision housing units that had already been mortgaged or used as collateral for housing loans from Pag-IBIG Fund.
Due to the volume of cases and defendants and complexity of the issues, CoA said it was only proper to grant time charges or hourly rates subject only to the condition that the sum shall not exceed the amount set under the certificate of availability of funds.
“We are aware of the exceptional and delicate nature of the cases currently handled by the Yorac Law Firm for the HDMF. With over a billion pesos involved in these alleged scandal of double sale, fictitious and special buyers and fraudulent documentations, full commitment is extremely necessary to ensure proper representation in courts,” its report said.