Pag-IBIG to pay out P8.5B in ’09 dividends

THE PAG-IBIG FUND IS GIVING out P8.5 billion in dividends for 2009—20 percent more than the payout made in 2008, according to Vice President Noli de Castro.

De Castro, who chairs the agency’s board of trustees, said in a statement that the increase was the biggest in the 29-year history of Pag-IBIG Fund, formally known as the Home Development Mutual Fund.

“The 2009 dividend comprises 71 percent of the fund’s P12-billion net income” for the year, de Castro said. “This will be proportionately credited to the total accumulated savings of members, who number more than 7.4 million throughout the country.”

Under the law that created Pag-IBIG Fund, the agency must set aside at least 70 percent of its net income for a given year as dividends. The dividend is tax-free.

In 2009, Pag-IBIG posted a net income of P12.6 billion, also a record for the agency.

According to Pag-IBIG chief executive Jaime A. Fabiaña, the increase in dividends and net income was due to “more effective collection procedures and prudent fund management.”

Dividend payouts have been rising over the past five years, from P4.8 billion in 2004.

Also, de Castro said the fund set a record-level of P100 billion in benefits granted to members in 2009.

The amount covers P49 billion in short-term multipurpose and calamity loans, provident claims as well as death benefits—higher by 48 percent from P33 billion in 2008.

In calamity lending alone, Pag-IBIG disbursed P14.8 billion to 869,000 typhoon-stricken members.

Also, the agency granted P30 billion in multipurpose loans to 1.7 million members.

Further, Pag-IBIG last year extended P45.7 billion worth of long-term housing loans to more than 74,000 members.

These figures represent “the highest total loan amount and the biggest number of borrowers for a single year in the fund’s history,” de Castro said. –Ronnel Domingo, Philippine Daily Inquirer