Daily Serving of Legal Matters

Today, March 12, 2014, Delfin Lee will be brought to the Court of Appeals where his petition for habeas corpus was filed.  He was arrested to face the criminal charge of syndicated estafa.  He is the owner-developer of Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings. However, his lawyer cried for an illegal arrest because allegedly the warrant for his arrest was already lifted and quashed by the Court of Appeals.  The State argued that before the quashal order becomes final, it has timely filed a motion for reconsideration to that effect.   Thus, Lee's camp filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus and today is the scheduled hearing for such petition.  If the State cannot show good cause as to the detention of Delfin Lee, the latter might be released from prison. So what is this Habeas Corpus?  This post would discuss the meaning of this habeas corpus and how it would be availed. Definition of a Writ of Habeas Corpus: A Writ of Habeas Corpus is ...

With the arrest of Delfin Lee in connection to the syndicated estafa he faced, some of us, I guess, would be asking what constitutes the crime of syndicated estafa. To answer this question, we have to discuss first the elements and kinds of estafa cases.  The Revised Penal Code has defined the crime of estafa and as well as provided elements of this crime. The Crime of Estafa: Estafa or otherwise knows as SWINDLING is a criminal offense wherein one person defrauds another by means of: 1.  Unfaithfulness or Abuse of Confidence 2.  False Pretenses or Fraudulent Acts 3.  Fraudulent Means Estafa Through Unfaithfulness or Abuse of Confidence: 1.  By altering the substance, quantity, or quality of anything of anything of value which the offender shall deliver by virtue of an obligation to do so, even though such obligation be based on an immoral or illegal consideration; 2.  By misappropriating or converting, to the prejudice...

With the recent hullabaloo in Delfin Lee's arrest, the issue on whether or not the standing warrant of arrest issued against him is still valid or not is now occupying a significant space in the news today. Delfin Less is, the owner of the property developer Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings, one of the accused of syndicated estafa involving a - P 6.5 Billion Peso loans from Pag-IBIG Fund in 2009.  In this connection a warrant of arrest was issued by the court for the arrest of Delfin Lee.  On May 22, 2012, Judge Maria Amifaith Fider-Reyes of Branch 42 of Pampanga Regional Trial Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Lee, his son Dexter and three officers of Globe Asiatique for syndicated estafa, a nonbailable crime, in connection with two housing projects in Pampanga province (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/582957/fugitive-magnate-delfin-lee-falls). From the time the warrant of arrest was issued, Lee has been a fugitive from justice, evading his arrest. However...