Pag-IBIG extends old lending rule

THE PAG-IBIG Fund is holding off the implementation of a new, stricter rule for availing housing loans until October following complaints from real estate developers afraid of losing the bulk of their business.

Pag-IBIG chief executive Jaime A. Fabiaña Wednesday told reporters the previous system of qualifying for loans would continue until September 30.

Housing developers, particularly Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings, raised a howl about HDMF Circular No. 247, which provides that only Pag-IBIG members who have been active for at least 12 months may avail themselves of housing loans.

HDMF stands for Home Development Mutual Fund, the official name of Pag-IBIG Fund.

“The original housing loan guidelines require borrowers to be a contributing member for at least two years,” the Pag-IBIG chief said.

He said that in 2001, Pag-IBIG lifted the two-year requirement by allowing a P500,000 loan to a relatively new member who paid a lump sum of P4,800 – equivalent to 24 months of contributions.

Fabiaña said the lump-sum system was adopted to encourage loans considering that there were only a few borrowers then.

On March 10, Fabiaña issued a memorandum that stated that the 12-month residency rule would be implemented starting July 1.

Fabiaña on Tuesday said he had issued another memo saying that the new rule’s implementation would be deferred and that the lump-sum system would still be applied until September 30.

Earlier this week, Globe Asiatique president Delfin Lee was quoted as saying that the “unusually timed” March 10 memo would bar 70 percent of potential housing loan applicants from tapping the funds.

Lee was also quoted as saying that Pag-IBIG officials were “lazy…put[ting] money in treasury bills and avoiding innovative and more challenging work.”

Fabiaña took exception to Lee’s statements, saying that the amended rules on the eligibility of member-borrowers were a result of “intensive consultations with developers groups.”

He said such groups included the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association and the Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines.

Also, Fabiaña said the lump-sum system which amounts to “instant membership” was prone to abuse.

He cited Pag-IBIG monitoring data that showed 387 cases in which the borrowers named were not the ones who were actually availing themselves of housing loans.

“These questionable accounts represent funds totalling P290 million or an average of P750,000 for each supposed borrower,” he said.

Fabiaña said monitoring reports indicated such abuses were committed in Pampanga, where Globe Asiatique’s projects were located.

According to Fabiana, Lee himself confirmed the existence of these problematic approved accounts.

“In a letter to Pag-IBIG, Lee wrote that ’based on [his] our internal monitoring… there are buyers who have not been paying since take-out [loan approval],” Fabiaña said.

He said Lee had informed Pag-IBIG that the developer was “closely monitoring some 1,000 accounts which we suspect are of questionable buyers [and that] we have since cancelled 400 of these accounts.”

Regarding Pag-IBIG officials’ “laziness,” Fabiaña said the agency had long surpassed its mandate to provide 70 percent of its funds for housing.
Ronnel W. Domingo, Philippine Daily Inquirer