Crame debate on validity of Delfin Lee’s arrest warrant proves pressure of ‘influential people’ - PNP CONSIDERED RELEASE OF DELFIN LEE – HOUSING OFFICIAL (Posted: March 15, 2014)

            A housing official who rushed to Camp Crame immediately after the arrest of Delfin Lee last week said police officers were considering Lee's release and had to be reassured of the legality of the warrant of arrest and Vice President Jejomar C. Binay’s strong opposition to release of the fugitive developer.

            “It is incredulous for the Philippine National Police (PNP) to even consider releasing an apprehended accused based on the mere representations of the latter’s lawyer on the purported invalidity of the Warrant of Arrest. Clearly, there must have been influential people that worked on the actual delisting of Mr. Lee from the Warrant of Arrest Information System and pressured the PNP to cause Mr. Lee’s release despite the existence of a valid Warrant of Arrest,” Assistant Secretary Daniel Subido said in a report to the Vice President and the Home Mutual Development Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund).

            Subido is the deputy secretary general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), which Binay chairs. The Vice President is also chairman of the Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees.

            Subido said he was asked by the Vice President to go to Camp Crame immediately after Lee’s arrest “to ensure that the rule of law be applied and the proper procedure be followed on the arrest and detention” of the Globe Asiatique president, after the housing czar received a report that there were influential people pressuring PNP officials to release Lee.

            “When I arrived (at) Camp Crame, I was surprised that PNP officers were discussing the validity of Mr. Lee’s arrest based on the mere representations made and documents presented by his lawyer,” Subido said in his report.

            “According to the PNP officers, the lawyer of Mr. Lee presented documents that show that the Warrant of Arrest against Mr. Lee has allegedly been quashed, recalled and lifted, and that the PNP was purportedly enjoined from implementing said warrant of arrest,” he added.

            Subido said he had to explain and reassure the PNP that the warrant of arrest against Lee was valid and existing because only the Regional Trial Court of Pampanga, which issued the warrant, could quash, recall, or lift the arrest warrant.

            “In fact, it was confirmed to me by (PSSupt.) Conrad Capa, the head of Task Force Tugis, that the task force verified with the Regional Trial Court of Pampanga that the Warrant of Arrest against Mr. Lee was still valid and existing despite the ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA) dated November 7, 2013 which purportedly quashed, recalled, and lifted the Warrant of Arrest against Mr. Lee,” Subido said.

            Subido added that the PNP had no authority or discretion to decide on the validity of the Warrant of Arrest, whether or not to arrest Mr. Lee based on the Warrant of Arrest, or whether or not to release Lee.

            “Such a determination is the sole jurisdiction and discretion of the courts,” he said.

            The housing official said the events that occurred immediately after the arrest of Lee prove that certain influential people were pressuring the PNP to release the real estate developer.

            “The circumstances that transpired immediately after the arrest of Mr. Lee coupled by the certification, memo and letters showing the delisting of Mr. Lee from the database of outstanding arrest warrants and ordering to enjoin the implementation of the arrest warrant against him previously issued by the PNP only show that influential people indeed pressured the PNP to favor Mr. Lee,” he said.

            The HUDCC deputy secretary general also recommended that Pag-IBIG Fund formally commend Capa and Task Force Tugis for their “integrity and fortitude in apprehending and detaining Mr. Lee despite the pressure received from influential people.”

            The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday upheld Lee’s warrant of arrest, effectively nullifying the Court of Appeals’ (CA) earlier order quashing his arrest warrant.

            The SC’s order also stayed the appellate court from implementing its resolution clearing Lee of the charges of syndicated estafa.

            The High Court issued the order after Pag-IBIG Fund appealed to the SC the CA’s decision to clear Lee upon the instruction of the Vice President.

            Meanwhile, Senator Nancy Binay is also seeking an investigation into the alleged delisting of Lee from the PNP’s “Most Wanted Persons List.”

            The younger Binay filed Senate Resolution No. 567, which directs the appropriate Senate committees to launch an inquiry into the alleged removal of Lee’s name from the said list as well as the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group’s (CIDG) issuance of a certification of the Globe Asiatique president’s removal from the Warrant of Arrest database.

            The Vice President ordered the filing of syndicated estafa charges against Lee and several Globe Asiatique officials in December 2010 after an investigation he ordered revealed that Lee used fake documents and ghost borrowers who supposedly bought homes in Globe Asiatique’s Xevera housing project in Mabalacat, Pampanga, to secure some P6.6 billion in loans from Pag-IBIG Fund.