Several Executives of ProFriends are Facing Criminal Raps

Several high ranking executives of Property Company of Friends, Inc., the developer of Lancaster Residences and other real estate projects with its mother project, Lancaster New City Cavite are currently facing criminal raps for violation of PD957 of the Real Estate Regulations Presidential Decree.



The city prosecutor of Trece Martires, Cavite has found probable cause on the violation of PD957 Section 17 and 39 that may have been committed by thirteen (13) ranking officers of Property Company of Friends, Inc. or commonly known as ProFriends.

Those who are facing criminal raps are:

1. Guillermo Choa - President/CEO
2. Catherine Choa - Director
3. Carlos Siy - Director
4. Ma. Brenda Siy - Director
5. Kathleen Joy Choa - Director
6. Felix Lota Jr. - OIC, Credit Management Division
7. Atty. Leah Dela Cruz - Legal Counsel
8. Melodie Mendoza - Supervisor
9. Restituto Llera - Supervisor
10. Herbert Mangampat - Supervisor
11. Elisa Craw - Customer Service Specialist
12. Genevie Balena - Client Relations Officer
13. Girlie Seco - OIC, Realty Services Division

This specific case was basically just a failure of the real estate developer to file a Contract to Sell when the accuser, Dr. Vernon Ceballos has already paid almost Php 2 million. As of the time of composition of this article, warrants of arrest are being issued to the thirteen.

This is just one of the many cases Dr. Ceballos has filed against ProFriends which was rooted from the failure of ProFriends to complete the construction of his house in Lancaster Village 1 which is plagued with quality issues. Dr. Ceballos requested for a full refund however, ProFriends insisted on the "No Refund Policy" on their Contract to Sell which is also dubious and may violate PD957. It even came to a point that ProFriends was asking for damages payment as their "feelings were hurt" when Dr. Ceballos filed for a refund. The cases are still on-going.


The issue of Dr. Ceballos is not new in fact a lot people are having the same quality issues with houses constructed by ProFriends. A group of people who have links to media has successfully forced this developer for a full refund after massive delays and quality issues. Although no cases were filed as closed-door agreements has been made in exchange of full refund on their real estate purchase. However this is not a secret as people over the internet has been writing actual experiences of such successes for the fight against this developer.

Other quality issues, absence of license to sell, and structural and location/environmental hazards, and false advertisement that plagues Lancaster New City of ProFriends has also been exposed in this blog on previous articles.

Meanwhile, here in our community at Lancaster Residences, aside from quality issues, our issue with ProFriends that continuously handles the Homeowners Association via LEHOA since 2009 is still on-going with HLURB. RA9904 and PD957 states that it is illegal for a developer to handle a homeowners association. This was also verbally confirmed by the head of HOA Supervision Division of HLURB-Southern Tagalog, Atty. Bahjin. Yet he has chosen to keep mum on the issue in spite of his verbal confirmation that non-elected, company-assigned, employees of ProFriends that sit as board of directors of Lancaster Estates Homeowners Association (LEHOA) is illegal. Since 2011, most of the homeowners of Lancaster Residences has been against the developer handling the "homeowners" association without homeowner involvement on financial reports, policies and fees enforced upon us.

Last January 2014, eventhough Atty. Bahjin is the head of HOA supervision of HLURB, he should know about the magna carta of homeowners association better; yet he still decided to escalate the issue to HLURB Commissioner, Antonio Bernardo. Until the time of this writing, HLURB commissioner Bernardo has not given a single reply nor action for the HOA issue in Lancaster Residences.

Last February 2014, the Vice President for Estates and Asset Management of ProFriends, Harvey Campos (the very same guy who asked an irrelevant question to Lee Kwan Yew in Singapore and shamed himself over social media) has resigned after only 9 months in the company amidst the on-going issue with the real-estate developer-controlled HOA which was escalated to HLURB. His resignation reason remains unknown.

ProFriends is plagued with scam-like issues on their policies against their customers and quality issues on its products. May this article be a wake-up call for real estate agents and brokers who continue to sell properties in Lancaster New City Cavite through false claims and advertising.

For balance, we have tried to reach ProFriends for their statement on the criminal cases filed against their directors and chairman using the cellphone number they have specified on their "No Sticker No Entry" policy tarpaulin in the front gates of Lancaster Residences. Unfortunately it is unreachable.


Related:
Lancaster Estates flooded again on 2013 Habagat
How to prevent being scammed by a real estate developer, brokers, and its agents.
LEHOA By-Laws and PD957 and RA9904
How LEHOA was "legalized" to be controlled by the real-estate developer

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