THE Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) expects to set the highest ever collections from its members from the Modified Pag-Ibig 2 (MP2) Savings Program this year despite the economic fallout from the pandemic.
Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said their January to September collection from the MP2 Savings Program remains robust and is still above the amount they collected in the same period last year.
As of end-2019, he said they were able to collect P12 billion.
“We are happy to share with everyone that for the first nine months of the year, [our collections from] the voluntary savings programs is still above the level [during] the same period of 2019, so we are looking at P12 billion or even higher; it looks like we are going to set the highest ever MP2 collections from our members,” Moti said in a briefing on Friday.
“And that is one of the proofs that our members, the Filipino workers, truly trust the Pag-Ibig Fund, that they have moved their hard-earned savings to Pag-Ibig Fund so it is a testament to how Pag-Ibig Fund has performed over the years,” he added.
MP2 Savings Program is a voluntary savings platform for Pag-IBIG Fund members who wish to save more and earn high dividends, in addition to their Pag-IBIG Fund Regular Savings.
Home loans
In the same event, Moti also reported that they have so far released P44.16 billion in home loans as of end-October this year as they have started seeing a rise in the availment since quarantine restrictions were eased.
Last year, housing loan releases by Pag-IBIG Fund reached a record P86.7 billion, a 15-percent surge from P75.3 billion in 2018. Moti also disclosed during the event that there was a decline in the number of their actively paying members.
“Last December, the number of active members was 14.69 million but unfortunately as of September, it went down 12.69 million so a drop of 2 million in the list of active members—these are the actively paying Pag-IBIG fund members,” he said.
As of end-September, Moti also said their net income is at P21.65 billion, gross income is at P32.56 billion, and their short-term loan releases have reached P26.02 billion benefitting 1.27 million borrowers.
In 2019, Pag-Ibig Fund achieved its highest-ever net income of P34.37 billion, up by 3.6 percent from P33.17 billion in 2018. The agency also booked a higher gross income last year at P51.67 billion, a 6.76-percent increase from P48.4 billion in 2018.
Of the P10-billion House Construction Fund, Moti said they have also so far approved 20 House Construction Financing Line projects amounting to P1.228 billion. The agency earlier said this fund was meant to ensure the continuous production of more socialized and low-cost homes to address the housing needs of its members but also to serve as a stimulus to the housing industry.