Pag-Ibig has P30B for housing loans–Binay

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Vice President Jejomar Binay on Thursday announced the allocation of P30 billion in loanable funds to meet the increased targets of socialized housing nationwide.

Binay, chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), also promised system-wide reforms in the housing sector that would not favor a single developer, as what happened in the past.

In a bid to allay concerns over the agency’s lack of funds, the Vice President also said the Pag-Ibig remained very liquid and had net assets of about P275 billion despite the Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp. housing mess involving P5 billion in loans.

The firm has already been blacklisted from government financing, he told members of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association Inc. during a national convention held at L ‘Fisher Hotel in this city.

The concern over the supposed lack of Pag-Ibig funds arose from the seeming disparity in the distribution of loanable funds by region or developer, Binay said.

This was found out in a recent controversy involving a certain favored developer who was able to corner a sizable amount of the loanable housing funds for his project, he said.

Binay did not name the developer but he was apparently referring to Globe Asiatique.

“The implication was while the other developers in the region were waiting for their take out for almost four to six months, the favored developer was getting his in just three to seven days. In volumes, this was equivalent to hundreds per day, from a total fund commitment line especially and inequitably granted, totaling P5 billion,” he said.

This developer availed himself of a P5-billion end-buyers loan outside of his institutional loan of P3 billion as well as an additional P6 billion for a project in Zambales, Binay added.

Had the P6-billion project been implemented, there would have been more havoc, he said.

To solve the disparity in the allocation of loanable funds, Binay said the single borrowers’ limit policy would be set and the deployment of loanable funds would be done equitably per region on the basis of the demand for housing loans and the performance of developers.

He said they were also revisiting Executive Order No. 45 that provided for a one-stop facility in the processing of development permits, Department of Agrarian Reform clearances and licenses to sell.

Binay also said he had adjusted the target of the government’s housing loans from 75,000 housing units to 150,000 units a year.

The Pag-Ibig will set aside P30 billion in new loanable funds that will be made available to buyers and developers.

“This is ambitious, I know. But I also know that if we must make Pag-Ibig responsive to the growing interests of stakeholders, we must put in courageous interventions in unprecedented proportions,” Binay said.

He added that they intended to deliver more houses to fill the gap between housing stock and housing need, which is about 350,000 each year.

The Vice President also revealed that the HUDCC’s policy direction would be to partner with local government units (LGUs) on housing.

He has ordered the creation of a special lending window to entertain housing loan applications of LGU employees and residents who are members of Pag-Ibig. –Carla Gomez, Philippine Daily Inquirer