Pag-IBIG execs face raps over loan scam

The Commission on Audit (COA) has found a private developer and 14 officials of Pag-IBIG Fund in Eastern Visayas  liable for the release of P33.189 million in housing loans to dummy borrowers.

In a six-page decision, COA said the Office of the Ombudsman should conduct an investigation for the possible filing of cases.

COA said the scam started when the regional office extended a loan window to Ray Zialcita, developer of Villa Perla Subdivision in Maasin, Southern Leyte. Records show that P20 million was initially released on Sept. 4, 2006.

COA said Zialcita also signed a funding commitment agreement, which enabled him to avail of the agency’s takeout window service. The scheme allows property developers to receive, evaluate, pre-process and approve housing loan applications.

The audit body said 47 of the 79 loan accounts that Zialcita approved were under the names of dummy borrowers.

The scam was discovered in late 2009 after several Pag-IBIG members complained that they were being charged for housing loans they neither availed of nor applied for.