CA junks syndicated estafa raps vs Pag-Ibig exec

THE COURT of Appeals has reversed the Department of Justice (DOJ) decision to include a Pag-Ibig Fund executive in the P6.65-billion syndicated estafa case against the owners and officers of the Globe Asiatique housing developer.

In a ruling dated Oct. 3 and written by Justice Edwin Sorongon, the appellate court’s 6th Division stopped the San Fernando, Pampanga, regional trial court from proceeding with the criminal case against lawyer Alex Alvarez, Pag-Ibig fund foreclosure manager, and also lifted the arrest warrant issued against Alvarez last May 22.

The case stemmed from the allegedly anomalous loans that Pag-Ibig, also known as the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), granted to phony beneficiaries who bought properties from Globe Asiatique housing projects in Pampanga.

Alvarez was initially not among those charged in the scam. But DOJ senior deputy prosecutor Theodore Villanueva recommended that Alvarez be indicted as an alleged coconspirator for having notarized the documents executed by the fake buyers, held office at the Globe Asiatique and even received compensation from the developer.

The Court of Appeals, however, said that a notary public does not automatically become a coconspirator by the mere fact of having notarized the documents used by the principal perpetrator in committing the alleged crime.

It said it cannot adopt such a reasoning as doing so would expose all notaries public to undue harassment in the performance of their functions.

“Absent clear indications or links that a notary public has knowledge of the alleged crime and willingly and willfully participates in the commission of that crime, his mere act of notarizing is not enough basis to allow the hammer to fall upon him,” the court ruled.

The appellate court also faulted the Pampanga lower court for failing to look into allegations that Alvarez was receiving a salary from Globe Asiatique before reaching the conclusion that probable cause existed to place him on trial.

“It is more logical that the amounts received by him were payments for the notarization of the documents and not a salary,” the appellate court ruled. It noted that the original complaint filed by Pag-Ibig officer in charge Emma Linda Faria intended to make Alvarez one of the witnesses and not a defendant.