Former Pag-Ibig head to question bogus loans

THE former president of Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-Ibig) will help in the investigation to be conducted by Congress on the alleged bogus housing loans of the agency.

Representative (second district, Marikina) Romero Quimbo, then chief executive of Pag-Ibig, plans to author a bill to investigate the issue involving Pag-Ibig and Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corporation.

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“Yes (I intend to file a bill) with a number of colleagues who were formerly connected with the housing sector including Amado Bagatsing,” Quimbo told Sun.Star in a text message. Representative Bagatsing (fifth district, Manila) served as chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

Quimbo, who served Pag-Ibig for seven years, said he built the agency to be the most profitable government and Triple A corporation and that he is saddened with the reported bogus borrowing issue.

“The programs we established were innovative, cutting-edge and secure. We made sure appropriate measures for check and balance were always in place. I am thus equally curious as to how these reported abuses and fraud happened. I am hopeful that it is an isolated incident in Pag-Ibig," he said.

“I will be joining the call to investigate the issue and will actively participate in it with the hope that this will not happen again," he added.

The Marikina lawmaker resigned from Pag-Ibig on June 2009 after he decided to focus on his political career.

There were speculations though that Quimbo decided to quit his post because then Vice President and HUDCC chairman Noli de Castro was dismayed with him after learning he failed to ensure 70 percent of the agency's funds would be allocated to housing.

Earlier, Majority Floor leader Neptali Gonzales II and Representative Elpidio Barzaga Jr. (fourth district, Cavite) filed similar separate bills seeking an investigation on the reported fraudulent use of Pag-Ibig funds.

Globe Asiatique is reported to have taken out at least P6.6 billion in housing loan proceeds for buyers of its units in housing projects with thousands of units below standard and unoccupied in Bacolor, Mabalacat, and Angeles City in Pampanga.

But records showed these buyers are fake members or ineligible for Pag-Ibig membership. Others were dead at the time the loans were applied or were not living in the addresses provided.

The Philippine Stock Exchange has already ordered Globe Asiatique to explain the questionable housing loans. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)