Buyers of a controversial residential development project in Pampanga have asked Pag-Ibig Fund officials to resolve their claims of legal ownership to the housing units they purchased five years ago.
Officials of the Homeowners Association of Xevera- Mabalacat, representing more than 1,700 affected home buyers, are asking the housing fund agency to start accepting their monthly payments and re-establish their respective records, among others.
“Inamin na ng Pag-ibig na walang nawalang pondo (walang utang),nakatayo lahat ng bahay (complete amenities), ready magbayad ang buyers,. so, documentation lang and kailangan…bakit ayaw ng Pag-ibig maayos ang problema at puro appeal ginagawa nila para tumagal and kaso?” said Rolando Santos, president of the Xevera homeowners group.
The predicament of the Xevera townhouse owners began four years ago when court cases broke out between the Home Development Mutual Fund or “Pag-IBIG Fund” and the subdivision developer.
In a letter addressed to Pag-IBIG Fund President and CEO Darlene Berberabe and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Chito Cruz, a copy of which was sent to The Standard, residents expressed fear they would lose their homes.
“Pag IBIG Fund claims to be the victim of fraud allegedly perpetrated by one of its housing developers,” the letter said. “On the other hand, Delfin Lee and his development company GlobeAsiatique, say they are victims of political persecution.”
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? (Why are we on the brink? We already reached the Supreme Court. When will our ordeal end?),” they asked.
Day in court
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.
They also appealed to Berberabe to protect not just the Pag-IBIG as an institution, but its members and borrowers as well, whose welfare and interests are kept in the balance while Lee is 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?”
Fix the problem now
Rolando Santos, one of the Xevera homeowners, cited that almost four year ago, 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.
Santos said that 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 Pag-IBIG and Globe Asiatique, be deemed as spurious buyers.
