VP
NOLI CATCHES HOUSING EXTORTIONIST
June 24, 2005
Vice President Noli “Kabayan” De Castro yesterday acted to
apprehend an alleged extortionist in the National Home Mortgage Finance
Corporation (NHMFC), one of the agencies under the Housing and Urban
Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), which is chaired by the Vice
President.
HUDCC coordinated with the National Bureau of Investigation
(NBI) to launch an entrapment operation to catch the suspected
extortionist in the act.
The said operation was prompted by a complaint from a member
of a homeowners’ association.
According to De Castro, various complaints have reached his
office pointing to certain people in NHMFC who are allegedly demanding
money from land owners and homeowners associations.
“Apparently, some people or groups who have pending
applications for the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) are being asked
for grease money before their checks can be released,” De Castro said.
CMP is a program being administered by NHMFC that lends
funds to non-formal community groups to purchase land for housing.
The Vice President reveals that HUDCC has not been able to
act on the complaints until now as none of the complainants wanted to
come out in the open and execute an affidavit.
He revealed that the complaints pointed to the same person,
and the same modus operandi.
“We are thankful that a complainant from NAIS Homeowners
Association, Inc. from Cacarong Matanda in Pandi, Bulacan expressed
willingness to pursue the case, which allowed us to act on it,” he
said.
“I will never tolerate corruption in the housing sector for
as long as I am at the helm of HUDCC,” he added.
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2005,
Office of the Vice President (OVP) - Management Information Services
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