Pag-IBIG urges tieups with employers for housing to employees

Employees in the private and public sectors will now have more opportunities to acquire decent and affordable homes for their families through Pag- IBIG Fund, its chief executive officer (CEO) and president Darlene Marie Berberabe said.

Berberabe announced recently that Pag-IBIG is actively engaging employers around the country to partner with the Fund to make home ownership more accessible to their employees.

“Pag-IBIG members comprise of Filipino workers, and the best partners of the Fund to provide them opportunities for home ownership are their employers,” Berberabe said.

Berberabe said the Pag-IBIG led projects is an initiative of the Fund to provide access to decent housing of Pag-IBIG members, particularly in the underserved areas and sectors, as well as add housing inventories for members in the economic zones.

She said this strategy will also tackle affordability issues and address mismatch between available housing inventories and the members’ requirement.

“We now have seven PagIBIG led projects, which is expected to generate more than 2,000 housing units, and we are looking at another seven potential projects,” Berberabe said.

Berberabe said the seven confirmed projects are located in Quezon City, Metro Manila; Cainta, Rizal; Bacoor, Cavite; Calamba, Laguna, Miag- ao, Iloilo, and Naga and Lapu-Lapu cities in Cebu, with unit prices ranging from P450 thousand to P2 million.

“We encourage the employers to partner with Pag-IBIG Fund so we can map out a housing plan tailored-fit for the employers capacity and the employees housing needs,” Berberabe said, adding that bringing affordable and decent shelter to employees would be easier if a strong partnership binds together the stakeholders of the housing sector.

Berberabe also announced that the Pag-IBIG has cut housing loan interest rates

Home acquisition has been made even more affordable for Pag-IBIG members as the fund again reduced its interest rates to as low as 6.5 percent per year, effective June 1, 2015.

Berberabe said the drop in interest rates is expected to encourage more Pag-IBIG members to avail of housing loans.

The drop in interest rates is the result of the review of PagIBIG programs and policies after Vice President Jejomar Binay, then chairman of the Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees, directed them to ensure that Pag-IBIG members will get more benefits from their membership with the fund.

“The reduction in interest rates was made possible by our strengthened fiscal measures, sound investments and reforms in collection, all contributing to a more robust and stable fund for our members. The new reduced interest rates will give Pag-IBIG members an easier access to homes to shelter their families,” Berberabe said.

Berberabe said the reduction of interest rates can be attributed to the improved collections on housing loans, which last year reached P33.9 billion or an increase of 6.23 percent from the P31.9 billion collected in 2013.

During the first quarter of 2015 alone, P8.8 billion in collections has been made, she said. The improved collections mean additional money for the Fund to lend out to more members.

Berberabe said the Fund tapped the services of collection agencies to help the agency collect from delinquent accounts under a no cure, no pay arrangement.

Pag-IBIG also outsourced to courier services its monthly billing statements to ensure their on-time delivery.