BETH Morales retired early to oversee a property her family from Catarman, Samar, bought in Minglanilla. Meant to be a dream home and her sister’s retirement haven, it remains an empty lot five years later—fully paid, but nothing built.
Morales is one of the more than 100 individuals, many of them overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), demanding refunds and accountability from Azzela Properties Development Corp. (APDC) after waiting for nearly five years for promised housing units that were never built.
Promises and payments
Beginning in June 2020, APDC marketed several pre-selling projects, including Azienda Azaliyah and Azella Heights.
Buyers, many of whom were OFWs were enticed by the promise of “prime residential and commercial developments.” Annie Reniva, an OFW and one of the complainants, said they were assured that construction would begin immediately once their equity payments were completed.
Buyers paid significant amounts, from P250,000 to over P2 million. Some even paid both equity and transfer fees in full, expecting their homes to be turned over by 2023.
“We were told not to worry. Once you complete your equity, you’ll already have a house,” recalled Reniva during SunStar Web TV’s “Beyond the Headlines,” a news and commentary program, interview on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025.
Morales said she paid P1.1 million, while another buyer paid P960,000, and another P482,000. Despite these huge sums, no homes were built.
The reality on the ground
Despite these payments, the buyers found no construction on the promised sites.
“In 2023, we started hearing complaints on Facebook. When we visited the site, we saw there was no development at all. But the company told us not to believe online posts because they were meant to discredit them,” Reniva said.
The developer, Azzela chief executive officer Lloyd Adlawan, allegedly gave repeated excuses, blaming the Covid-19 pandemic and a typhoon for the delays and telling buyers to ignore online complaints.
Slow refunds and mounting frustration
Faced with growing complaints, Azzela Properties began offering refunds in 2023.
However, buyers described the process as “painfully slow,” with the company providing only small monthly installments of P5,000. This has led to what Morales described as “so much mental and emotional stress.” Unsatisfied with the pace of the refunds, the group of buyers is now preparing legal action to recover their money and hold the company accountable.
SunStar tried to reach Adlawan for an explanation and his reaction to the issues raised by the home buyers, but to no avail.
What legal and regulatory protections are in place to safeguard homebuyers in the Philippines, and what recourse do they have when a real estate project fails to materialize as promised?
The role of regulatory bodies
The group sought help from the Minglanilla mayor’s office, which endorsed their case to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD). DHSUD is the primary government agency responsible for protecting homebuyers’ rights in the Philippines.
According to the buyers, DHSUD confirmed that developers must secure a license to sell before offering units. The agency also recommended that affected buyers seek at least a 50 percent refund.
In a formal demand letter, lawyers for some homebuyers accused the developer of “gross misrepresentation” and “clear breach of contract.”
“Our clients entered into an installment purchase agreement for an Azaliyah unit. But upon inspection, there has been no development whatsoever. This is fraudulent and prejudicial to our clients,” the letter read.
The letter warned that unless full refunds are made within 10 days, buyers would be forced to pursue civil, criminal, and administrative cases against the company.
Earlier, DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling said the agency is stepping up measures to protect homebuyers. He said the agency has been clearing backlogs in complaints and is intensifying its campaign to safeguard buyers’ rights.
“Our homebuyers deserve peace of mind in acquiring real estate properties. It is our duty, the DHSUD’s mandate, to ensure their protection,” Aliling said.
The path forward
With the demand letter warning of civil, criminal, and administrative cases, the buyers are determined to get their money back and ensure the projects are closed.
More importantly, they want accountability to prevent similar schemes from happening again. Many of the buyers are OFWs who had hoped to retire in the homes they worked hard to pay for.
As Reniva stressed, “They sacrificed their well-being abroad just to complete their equity payments. Now all we’re asking is a refund of the money that we deserve, the money they owe us. That is the right thing to do.”