HGC case bigger than PDAF scam, lawyer says

MANILA, Philippines - The government has deliberately ignored the gross mismanagement of government-owned and-controlled corporation (GOCC) Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC), which has resulted in alleged accumulated losses of P13 billion over the years, a lawyer said yesterday.

“The government and the media are focusing too much on the alleged P10-billion scam involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund of the lawmakers. While that is good, let us take note that there are far bigger cases than the ‘pork’ scam which this government has been ignoring and one of that is the case mismanagement of the HGC which the no less than the Commission on Audit (COA) has exposed,” Alan Paguia told reporters covering the weekly Kapihan sa Annabelle’s forum.

Last week, he filed plunder and graft charges against officials of the HGC before the Office of the Ombudsman based on COA reports.

Paguia said he “didn’t even have to do comprehensive research work as the COA already provided the basis for the filing of the case.”

In a seven-page complaint, he accused HGC president Manuel Sanchez and former president Gonzalo Benjamin Bongolan of plunder and graft for alleged acts that resulted in “huge financial losses” by HGC.

Paguia cited COA’s annual reports on the HGC’s financial and management performance from 2009 to 2011 as basis in pointing to the alleged specific acts of mismanagement and questionable financial decisions made by Sanchez and Bongolan.

“I was compelled to file this case because I was worried that these abuses happening at the HGC may end up forgotten and neglected,” he said.

As a GOCC, the HGC is mandated by its charter (Republic Act 8763 or the Home Guaranty Corp. Act of 2000) to provide risk coverage or guarantees and fiscal incentives to banks and financial institutions to grant housing development loans and home financing to qualified Filipinos, Paguia said.

But based on COA reports, Paguia said Sanchez and Bongolan could be guilty of abuse of power and authority as well as criminal acts.

Sanchez was appointed to the HGC by President Aquino in September 2010, replacing Bongolan, who is now vice president of the Philippine Commercial Capital Inc.