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.
Lee's homecoming after SC ordered his release from jail in September 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?
