The state-run Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG Fund, will once again defer the hike in its members’ monthly contributions by another year to January 2023.
This was the second year that Pag-IBIG Fund decided to postpone the implementation of the hike in contributions in consideration of the plight of their members amid the lingering pandemic.
The monthly contribution of the members was supposed to increase from P100 to P150 in January 2022 after its scheduled implementation in 2021 was postponed to another year.
“For 2022, we will again not implement the increase in monthly savings or monthly contributions. This is out of respect to our partners, stakeholders, especially the employers in the private sector and also we also heard the sentiment of our members so no increase yet next year,” Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti told reporters on Friday.
Upon the instruction of the Pag-IBIG’s Board of Trustees, Moti said he consulted with the employers and the labor sector regarding the increase in contributions.
According to Moti, all employers and also the majority of the labor groups that they consulted were all for the deferment of the hike in contribution.
In 2019, agency officials approved the increase of its members’ monthly contributions, which had remained unchanged since 1986.
Moti earlier said it was projected that the amount of loans disbursed will eventually outpace the total collections from both loan payments and members’ contributions each year.
Meanwhile, Pag-IBIG Fund also reported on Friday that they have so far released P74.62 billion in housing loans as of end-October this year despite the pandemic.
With this, Moti expressed optimism that they will be setting a new record for housing loan takeout this year of at least P90 billion, eclipsing their record in 2019 of P86.7 billion.
In 2020, housing loan takeout dropped by 26 percent year-on-year to P63.75 billion.
Short-term loans released by Pag-IBIG Fund as of end-October this year have so far reached P36.5 billion, up by 24 percent from P29.35 billion in the same period a year ago.
Pag-IBIG Fund also booked a net income of P27.42 billion as of end-October this year.
“We are quite optimistic that again we will have a net income of at least P30 billion by the end of the year,” he said.
In 2020, Pag-IBIG Fund posted a net income of P31.7 billion. This was down by 8 percent from P34.37 billion in 2019.