Villagomez accuses CDA of being unfair

Another senator cried foul over the Commonwealth Development Authority’s allegation of conflict of interest among lawmakers who voted for the passage of the CDA credit relief bill.

“It really bothers me. In fact, what really bothers me is that I never picked up a loan from CDA. When I entered politics, my mom told me to stay away from CDA because it’s for people [not for politicians]. My dad, a businessman, never picked up a loan from CDA,” said Villagomez.

The senator, according to CDA, has “three first cousins with loans in default.”

Villagomez was off-island when the Senate made a final vote on the bill, but he said that he supported it during the initial reading.

“I voted [for the bill] the first time before it went to the House. I voted for people [borrowers] to get help. Remember that the CDA board has the fiduciary responsibility in reviewing those loans. When they review, they look at the individuals. They never called up the Legislature to get our side before approving those loans,” he said.

“You can imagine how many first cousins I have. Not one of them approached me [asking me] to support the bill. It’s not fair for CDA to point fingers,” he said. He said some of his cousins actually called him to ask who among them have bad loans.

The CDA, he said, would not disclose the specific names of borrowers, citing confidentiality, but “I think they’re breaking their own confidentiality” when they revealed that some of lawmakers’ parents have delinquent loans.

Earlier, Sen. Pete P. Reyes also lambasted CDA for being “extremely unfair” in identifying and accusing him as one of the lawmakers who favored “a special interest” bill.

Reyes said he was not aware of any lobbying efforts and that he never knew of any cousin with a bad loan with the agency.

“I honestly don’t know any one of my relatives with loans. I have absolutely no control over my relatives. If they want to borrow, that’s their decision. It’s just unfair to put my name, accusing that I voted for it only because my ‘first cousin’ would benefit from it,” he said.

CDA had disclosed that all nine senators, including Reyes and Villagomez, and 15 other members of the House of Representatives have relatives with loans in default.

The Legislature earlier passed Senate Bill 14-48 or the CDA credit relief bill to, among others, prevent the CDA from filing foreclosure or default collection proceedings—or any court proceeding—on any delinquent loan without first meeting with the borrower and making “good faith attempt” to resolve the outstanding indebtedness.

CDA has described the measure as “a special interest legislation of the worst kind.” It said the bill was passed “because of the aggressive lobbying efforts of several high profile defaulted borrowers.”

CDA further said that the bill “is illegal and unconstitutional” as it will impair the obligations of contracts.

The agency said that the measure would bankrupt the CDA, affect its relationships with federal agencies, lose its integrity, and kill upcoming economic development.