Housing chief: Lao didn’t commit extortion but ‘impeded’ accreditation of housing projects

Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario on Tuesday said he believes the extortion complaint against former Budget Undersecretary Christopher Lloyd Lao was not accurate, but added that the latter still "impeded" the accreditation of housing projects.

The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), in a previous memorandum, indicated that there was an extortion process that began in 2018 when Lao, then Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board official, issued a memo circular no. 9, which made approval of license to sell housing projects "extremely tedious and difficult to obtain." 

But Del Rosario said the complaint only "misconstrued" that Lao committed extortion.

"What I am saying is that the complaint was not accurate in the sense that there was no extortion, so to speak. It is just the imposition of the accreditation process which was misconstrued as an extortion act by then Usec. Lao," Del Rosario told Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon in a Senate finance committee hearing on DHSUD's proposed 2022 budget.

"It impeded the accreditation of housing projects because of that central system," he added.

Drilon then said Lao's memorandum circular still resulted in monetary damage to developers because it made it difficult to approve licenses to sell housing projects.

"It impeded and that is the key, it impeded. It was critical to fast-track housing projects because of housing needs. It is causing monetary damage to the developers," the senator said.

Del Rosario also reiterated that he forwarded the extortion complaint against Lao when the latter was already with the Department of Budget and Management.

Del Rosario also pointed out that when Lao left their department, the DHSUD revised Lao's memorandum. He said that in the revised memorandum, they reduced required documents for applicants to fast track the accreditation process.

This was in contradiction to Lao's previous statement that he was not aware of the extortion case but knowledgeable on the PACC memorandum.

DHSUD budget submitted 

Meanwhile, the Senate panel had also submitted DHSUD's 2022 proposed budget for plenary debates.

"The budget of DHSUD with all the key shelter agencies is deemed submitted unless senators in two other hearings right now  will request a second hearing. I am very happy that the budget is deemed submitted," Senator Hontiveros said during the hearing.

In the 2022 proposed national budget, the Department of Budget and Management recommended that DHSUD will be receiving P6.39 billion for next year. — BM, GMA News