My Home via Pag-IBIG loan

By Willie Jose
Toronto-Canada
April 23, 2016



We --who are  blessed enough to live and  work  abroad-- could help  our loved ones back home  by either buying for them their dream houses  or helping them defray the cost of purchasing  affordable houses available in the  homeland .

With  the hard-earned  dollars we have at our disposal,  plus the high rate of  dollars exchange in the market,  perhaps it would only take a few years to  pay  off their home mortgages .

In short, our dollars’ earning  could spell the big difference in their lives.

Helping them to own a home is more than an economic investment, it’s an investment of love—our way of showing them that we do care, always thinking of their welfare even if we are thousands of miles away from home.

We all know the hardship of raising the money to buy a home and if our families would just rely on their meager earnings, it would be a struggle even next to impossibility to own houses.

Today, the Home Development Mutual Fund, popularly known  as the Pag-IBIG Fund has been taking the initiatives to set up Pag-IBIG Service Desks worldwide to offer to all Pinoys based abroad—migrant workers, immigrants, permanent residents and former Filipinos – programs to avail themselves its affordable housing loans  and the  members’ retirement savings plan.

At present, there are 23 service Pag-ibig posts around the world and they are strategically located in countries where most of our kababayans are concentrated.

In a forum held this weekend at the Philippine Consulate in Toronto, Pag-IBIG CEO and President  lawyer Darlene Marie Berberabe told the leaders of the Filipino groups  that as of Jan. 2015 her agency has  a total asset of  $ 11.24B, a net income of C$ 579.46 M and dividends at C$ 402.12M.

She said that for the operations of this semi-gov’t agency, it relies mainly on its earnings  and the contributions collected from  the  15.9 M members and  4.1 M of this number are OFWs.  

“We don’t even ask the government for our budget “, Berberabe said.

In assuring the people that the operations of the Pag-IBIG are transparent and above-board, she said said  her agency has earned its third Straight Unqualified Opinion from the Commission of Audit and it  means that the agency adheres to stringent international financial reporting standards.

Adding to this COA’s unqualified  opinion, Berberabe showed the ISO 9001:2008 certification which means  that the agency’s existing processes in membership registration are essentially proper and of private sector-caliber.”

The above-mentioned commendation and citation are  enough proofs  that the Pag-IBIG Fund administrators have taken care of the workers’ savings with due diligence and integrity.

For paying less than $50 for membership at the Peg-IBIG Fund program, Filipino overseas can avail themselves of the agency’s affordable housing loans not exceeding P6M with a low interest of 6.5 %  per annum payable from three to 30 years. And the agency will determine the loan applicants’ collateral and their financial ability to pay. 

These people have to be members of the Pag-IBIG  before they could benefit from these housing loan and savings programs.

As a procedure, the agency requires for a two-year membership before they can apply either for the housing loans or the savings plan.

“ To become members of the PAG-IBIG, these overseas Filipinos, will have to pay  a lump sum of P2,400—the equivalent of two years” contributions  of PAG-IBIG  members and  that’s all that’s needed.”, she said.

Aside from the Fund’s housing loan,  its members can also prepare their retirement through the Pag-IBIG savings program and their  savings can earn  dividends an average of 4.14% per annum

Berberabe said that  “ even those Filipino-Canadians don’t have to file for dual citizenships to avail themselves of the PAG-Ibig programs. They can easily own houses either for their retirement or loved ones in the Philippines.”

There’s  another voluntary savings plan  called Modified Pag-IBIG 2 program. Aside from being tax-exempt, with a 5-year maturity only and members could save anytime at their convenience, these savings get higher dividends depending on the income of the  agency.

With the success of the Pag-IBIG programs, owning homes these days is easy and certainly  a bright hope is looming in the horizon—something many of us  can look forward to  the future with optimism.