The Pag-IBIG Fund is considering doubling the decades-old P100 monthly savings contribution of its members in 2021 to answer the increasing demand for its low-interest housing and calamity loans.
Top executives of the agency, however, said they will hold consultations first, and vowed improved members’ benefits if the savings hike is to proceed.
“We might have to increase the P100 monthly savings to continue providing the low-interest rates. But because President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has standing orders to consider the plight of the Filipino workers, this will not happen immediately,” said Secretary Eduardo D. del Rosario, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees.
“If we have to increase, the increase will happen in two, maybe three years, from now because we have to consult our stakeholders first,” he added.
Pag-IBIG Fund chief executive officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti reiterated that if the increase is needed, “this will be implemented in 2021 at the earliest.”
“But as early as now, we want to assure our members that the benefits will definitely improve if the monthly savings is raised from the current levels,” he added.
“In order to sustain our low housing loan and calamity loan interest rates, we may have to raise the monthly contributions to P200. We can also borrow money from other institutions to raise more funds, but doing this will affect our low interest rates,” Moti said.
He explained that the monthly savings mandatory contribution has remained unchanged since 1986, which means that the P100 from each Filipino worker has never been adjusted despite inflation over 32 years.
Del Rosario said the Fund achieved another banner year in 2018 as the agency earned P33.17 billion in net income.
The increase in the demand for loans, however, may soon outpace the growth in collections derived mostly from the mandatory P100 monthly savings of its members.
In the Pag-IBIG Fund Chairman’s Report, Del Rosario said Pag-IBIG plays a major role in the government’s housing efforts because the Fund is recognized as the single largest source of housing loans in the country.
In 2018 alone, the Fund released P75.31 billion in housing loans.
“We offer the lowest housing loan and calamity loan interest rates. The demand for housing loans alone has seen consistent double-digit growth over the recent years, as it averaged 19.8 percent growth since 2016. So we’re exploring all sources of additional funding,” Del Rosario said.
The availment of housing loans has been growing at a faster pace, Moti said, as the Fund expects the upward trend to continue and projects the demand to increase by 10 percent every year.
If the growth exceeds their projection, only then will they consider raising the monthly savings, he added.
“Members will enjoy bigger savings after maturity. They will also get bigger cash loans as a result of the bigger savings. This member-centric thinking is at the core of our Lingkod Pag-IBIG values. After all, we are only administrators of the workers’ fund. The real owners of Pag-IBIG Fund are its members,” Moti said.