CAMBRIDGE VILLAGE - AN EMPIRE EAST LAND HOLDINGS INC SCAM
The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Boad

For anyone worried about buying a condominium unit and its legality, please speak to the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) first.  I did not, as did many of the residents at Cambridge Village, Floodway, Cainta, Rizal, and now we are paying the price.

There are many issues at Cambridge Village, some of which, no matter how hard you might check out your prospective buy, you would just never find.  But I hope our problems here might highlight to people what can go wrong!

Firstly, we have an issue over land ownership.  Obviously if a developer tries to sell you a unit, you would think that they had claim to the land!  But be careful, as there are many cases of disputed land ownership through the Philippines, and who wants to be part of that!  We are now in a situation where residents here could be classified as squatters as they live on somebody else's land!  Now who wants to be in that position, after you have spent your hard earned money!

Further, the developer, Empire East Land Holdings Inc, fails to follow or apply the laws of the land in any aspect of the development of Cambridge Village.

The developer saw fit, to ensure it set up a Condominium Corporation (Association) to help maintain its interests in the project, but then is lacking in following or maintaining the laws of the land, or any rules or regulations or orders or instructions as issued by HLURB.  The evidence in case is shown on the link to the HLURB website above.  Click the link, and cursor down the Home Page to Cease and desist Orders, look for the ENCR Region, and click on it.  Then you have access to all the developments in the ENCR region with "Cease and Desist Orders".  Several are listed for Cambridge Village.

Whilst under orders from HLURB not to, the developer continues to sell, to advertise, and to collect amortisation payments from buyers who it has illegally sold units to.  The developer has not been issued with a License to Sell for the majority of the development,a new one is required from HLURB.  The developer needs to obtain a Certificate of Registration from HLURB.  It also has to get Advertisement approval from HLURB.  It also has to get Development Plan approval, again for the majority of the project.  Basically, the project is being sold and developed without HLURB approval, yet HLURB is the government agency who is responsible for land development and use within the Philippines.

So we have been illegally sold units, but it seems the Contract is still valid!  Big deal!  How can it still be valid when you should have not been sold the unit in the first place. 

Further, there have been many issues over drainage, insanitary condition  of the swimming pool, and the integrity of the buildings themselves as the developer sought to construct buildings higher than approved by HLURB.  Surely, you would think the developer would seek to allay any fears, and prove that there are no issues here!  Of course not, they fear to do anything or say anything, as matters are held in their legal team, as the cases pour in as residents realise how Empire East Land Holdings Inc is scamming them.

Residents even voiced concerns over fire safety, and the equipment here, and questions over the physical checks done on any of the appliances here.  The local Fire Inspection officer recently saw fit only to inspect 2 clusters out of 23 currently with inhabitants, finding many code violations.  Yet was an inspection held in the other clusters?  No, as the Management Company tries to hide whatever irregular practices are being done here, stating that a check was done in April of this year, and everything was OK then.  Well, the 2 clusters with plenty of code violations were also checked in April, so who do you trust?

We also live under a "dictatorship".  At the point of contract signing, we were never made aware of the rules, the regulations and how the developer sees fit to run Cambridge Village.  Only after paying our money, and signing the contract, do people really find out how Cambridge Village is run.

The developer is responsible for the Master Deeds, a document which it has failed to update through all the years of development here.  25th April 2003, was the last time it was amended, dealing with some 621 residential units and 94 commercial units, through some 14 clusters.  Now our project is at 28 clusters (finally will be 37) and currently has over 2,500 who have accepted handover of their units!  Control of the project is handed over to First Oceanic Management Company, (a company tied in with the developer on most of their projects) and The Cambridge Village Condominium  Association Inc  (TCVCAI).  Between them, they are responsible for the maintenance and running of Cambridge Village.  But at the same time, the developer retains interest in the project as it continues to build on site, without development approval from HLURB and sells on site, again without HLURB approval.

The developer seems to have little or no communication with the Management Company and the Association.  It builds what it wants, it does what it wants, without any repercussions.  The Management Company and the Association Board have no control or say in the matter, and do not take any of Empire East Land Holdings Inc illegal actions on board.  So Cambridge Village is run in the interests of the developer, letting them build and sell, whilst a facade is put up, a smoke screen, to hide the ugly truth behind what is happening here.  We have a Board on the Association, not elected by the residents, containing people put in place by the developer, even including someone employed by themselves.  A Board, that has no voice, it does not speak for the residents, it does not tell the residents its actions, in fact it has no say in anything.  In fact, the one resolution that I found they had approved, was not promulgated to the residents here, and its very content and attitude is indicative of how things are run here.  Failure to pay Association Due's for 2 months will result in your utilities being disconnected, that is water and electricity. 

We have residents who do not pay Association dues, because of an ongoing legal action against the developer through HLURB.  At every level, the developer is found lacking.  It cannot follow procedures, it cannot follow the laws of the land, it has a customer services section that should be held accountable for being to allowed to use such a name.  The developer does not treat its buyers as customers, once they have had your money, that is the end of it, and what services are they providing?  I know the last time I went to see the developer, it was thrown back at me that it was my fault for buying a unit when a Cease and Desist order was in place, and that I should have checked that out!  Charming!  Empire East Land Holdings Inc lacks any morals, any ethics, any conscience, and its not that Cambridge Village is alone in its fight against the developer.

Empire East Land Holdings Inc, has other developments with Cease and Desist Orders, other developments it continues to sell without a License to Sell, and without a Certificate of Registration.  Other developments with inferior build quality, and poorly managed.  It operates as a law unto itself, ignoring the laws of the land, ignoring Presidential Decree's, Citizens charter, human rights etc.  You name it, Empire East Land Holdings Inc ignores everything and anything!  Why, because it is allowed to do so, because the laws and the people who are meant to implement them are not strong enough, and because people are scared or frightened of complaining. 

People must keep voicing their complaints.  People must register their complaints with HLURB, and surely sometime, the government will take action against unscrupulous developers, who have no time, no thought, no consideration for the buying public who bought illegally sold units.  Is it right that a company on the Philippines Stock Exchange can be so prominent when its very foundations of selling and marketing are done without approval?  This company then chooses to tell its stockholders of its increased sales, its increased sales reservations, but when it has no License to Sell, how can that be?  There are many aspects of how Empire East Land Holdings Inc does its business that should be investigated, lets continue to push for the governement here to do so.