FINDING ANSWERS
I’m not in the habit of chest-thumping. But among the 35 laws I principally authored when I was senator, I’m especially proud of the one providing mandatory coverage of the Home Development Mutual Fund, popularly known as Pag-IBIG Fund.
“Coverage of the Fund shall be mandatory upon all employees covered by the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System, and their respective employers,” reads the major provision of RA 7742 signed into law by then President Fidel Ramos on June 17, 1994.
Now, 30 years after the bill I filed became law, Pag-IBIG Fund is reaping the tremendous success I had envisioned with its increased amount of funds resulting from mandatory coverage.
The agency has declared “₱48.76 billion in dividends to be distributed to its members on their savings in 2023, the highest in its 43-year history,” according to the Pag-IBIG Fund Chairman’s Report for 2023.
Also, “For 2023, Pag-IBIG Regular Savings earned an annual dividend rate of 6.55 percent while the Modified Pag-IBIG 2 (MP2) Savings gained an annual return rate of 7.05 percent, both record-highs since the pandemic,” the report highlighted.
“If I am to sum up your report, the splendid things that Pag-IBIG has done during what is unquestionably a banner year, then without a doubt it is clear that it is a labor of love,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said during a gathering last Feb. 27 of the agency’s officials, partners and stakeholders.
2023 was indeed a banner year for Pag-IBIG Fund as it posted a net income reaching a record high of ₱49.79 billion, a 12 percent increase from the P44.50 billion in 2022.
Other record high figures for Pag-IBIG Fund in 2023 included “home loans reaching ₱126.04 billion enabling 96,848 of its members [to] gain new or better homes, total membership savings collected amounting to ₱89.26 billion, and cash loan releases amounting to ₱59.32 billion aiding over 2.65 million members with their financial needs.” The year ended with total assets of Pag-IBIG Fund at its highest—₱925.61 billion.
Of course, its sterling achievements would not have come about were it not for the equally sterling leadership of Marilene C. Acosta, who rose from the ranks to become chief executive officer of Pag-IBIG Fund where she’s been serving for more than four decades.
A certified public accountant, Acosta was named “SHEro of the Year – Circle of Excellence Awardee” in 2020 by the Asia CEO Awards, which also named her a “Circle of Excellence Awardee for Executive Leadership Team of the Year” in 2022.
Before becoming CEO, Acosta led the agency’s Home Lending Operations Cluster which enabled Pag-IBIG Fund to release in 2021 some ₱100.8 billion in housing loans, the highest amount ever for a single year, and which benefited 102,938 workers.
Prior to Acosta taking the top post, other CEOs also contributed greatly to the agency’s successes. Among them is Atty. Darlene Marie Berberabe, now dean of the UP College of Law, who was CEO of Pag-IBIG Fund for more than six years until February 2017.
Under Atty. Berberabe’s excellent stewardship, Pag-IBIG Fund was able to double its benefits to members, all without increasing monthly mandatory membership savings of ₱100.
During her stint, the maximum amount for housing loans was doubled from ₱3 million to ₱6 million, the housing loan interest rate was reduced from 11.5 percent to as low as 4.5 percent for affordable housing for minimum-wage earners and 5.5 percent for regular end-user financing, and calamity loan interest rate was reduced by almost half from 10.75 percent to 5.95 percent. Also, the number of Pag-IBIG Fund branches nationwide tripled from 38 in 2010 to 119 by 2017.
Credit for Pag-IBIG Fund ‘s record-high achievements should also go to its current board chairman, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar. He said that “while the agency is required to return only at least 70 percent of its annual net income as dividends on the savings of its members, the Pag-IBIG Board approved a record-high 97.86 percent payout ratio, resulting in a record-high dividend amount of ₱48.76 billion.”
In lauding the agency’s achievements as a “labor of love,” President Marcos Jr. also had this to say: “But you and I all know that we are far from declaring mission accomplished. We have inherited a huge housing backlog that must be reduced. The challenge before us today, including those in the Pag-IBIG, the housing sector, and the local government units, is to translate these statistics into actual homes that people can live in.”
The housing backlog, estimated to have accumulated to 6.8 million units according to the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, is huge indeed. But that's another story. In the meantime, Pag-IBIG Fund deserves all the kudos coming its way. ([email protected])