Members of the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), or Pag-IBIG, can avail of higher cash loans when it starts to implement the increase in the mandatory monthly savings of the employee next month.
Housing czar Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar, who also chairs the 11-member Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees, said all members will also stand to benefit from doubled savings once their contributions reach maturity, or during their retirement.
“We at Pag-IBIG Fund have long recognized the need of our members to have higher savings that shall provide them with decent and fair returns upon their retirement, as well as higher cash loans to help them during times of need,” said Acuzar.
“By implementing the new Pag-IBIG Monthly Savings Rates of both members and employers originally scheduled in 2021, not only would we be able to improve the benefits of our members, we would also be better equipped to finance the growing demand for home loans of our members while maintaining our affordable rates,” he added.
Under the agency’s new rates, the monthly savings of Pag-IBIG Fund members for both the employee’s share and the employer’s counterpart shall increase to P200 each from the current P100.
This follows the adjustment in the maximum monthly compensation to be used in computing the required two percent employee savings and two percent employer share for Pag-IBIG Fund members, which shall now increase to P10,000 from the current P5,000.
Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Marilene C. Acosta, for her part, explained that under the existing rates, a member would receive around P87,000 upon reaching membership maturity.
On the other hand, she said, a member who saves under our new rates over a period of 20 years would receive P174,000 or double the amount.
“It is also important to note that the increase in our monthly savings rates shall benefit our members the most because every peso they save will go to their Pag-IBIG Savings. And, because of their higher savings, they shall also be entitled to higher multi-purpose and calamity loan amounts to help them with their financial needs,” Acosta said.
Long overdue
The existing Pag-IBIG rate is based on the rule that was implemented more than four decades ago.
The new rates were supposed to be implemented in 2019 but this was deferred due to the Covid-19 pandemic when a number of Filipinos lost their jobs and millions have struggled financially due to the effects of mandatory public health restrictions.
The agency again deferred the implementation of the increase in 2023, following the request of the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) to provide the business community with time to further recover from the continuing financial challenges due to the health crisis.
The deferment was also the Pag-IBIG Fund’s response to the call of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. early last year, to alleviate the financial burden of fellow Filipinos due to the prevailing socio-economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic
Stakeholders support
Earlier, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), the Philippine Government Employees’ Association (PGEA), Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFW) have expressed support to increase the rates for the mandatory collection of monthly savings from Filipino workers.
All of the groups see the increase as more beneficial to their respective members.
“We thank our stakeholders for supporting our plans and for recognizing that raising our monthly savings rates will allow Pag-IBIG Fund to continue to provide affordable home loans to its members in the coming years,” Acosta said.
“We assure all our members of better benefits under the agency’s new rates,” she added.