THE Pag-Ibig Fund has recorded a 4.93 percent increase in membership in Mindanao for the first half of 2024 with around 1.84 million active members, surpassing the 1.76 million recorded members in the same period last year.
Atty. Marie Antoinette Diaz, Pag-Ibig Fund senior vice president for Member Services Operations Sector, revealed that this figure accounts for 11.29 percent of all Pag-Ibig members in the country, making Mindanao the second largest membership-based in the county after the National Capital Region (NCR).
Diaz said this increasing membership has also led to greater savings for Mindanaoan members.
She revealed that in the first half of 2024, Mindanaoan members saved around P6.21 billion, which is 37.95 percent higher compared to the P4.5 billion savings in the same period last year.
“This saving represents 9.66 percent of the total member savings collection nationwide,” she said.
During the Mindanao leg of the Stakeholders’ Accomplishment Report (StAR) for the first half of 2024 on August 7 in Davao City, Diaz emphasized, “Mindanao exemplifies the strength we strive to reflect in our services.”
With the increasing memberships in this part of the country, Diaz said that more Mindanaoans have reached and have availed of Pag-Ibig programs and services.
For instance, she mentioned that around 236,000 members in Mindanao have availed of Pag-IBIG’s short-term loans (STL).
STL, comprising multipurpose loans and calamity loans, is designed to meet the immediate financial needs of the members.
She added that following the series of weather disturbances earlier this year in some parts of Mindanao, several Mindanaoan members have availed of the calamity loan.
Meanwhile, regarding housing programs, Fermin Sta. Teresa, Jr., senior vice president for the Business Development Sector, revealed that for the first semester of 2024, Pag-IBIG has released around P5.27 billion housing loan takeout in Mindanao.
He said the amount was used to finance 4,166 homes across various areas in Mindanao.
He added that from the country's P142.69 billion budget for housing financing this year, 11 percent or P14.3 billion of it is allocated for Mindanao.
For socialized housing programs, Sta. Teresa said that for the first semester of 2024, Pag-Ibig released around P289.45 million in socialized housing loans, which were used to finance 651 housing units across different areas in Mindanao.
Socialized housing programs through socialized housing loans offer affordable housing for Filipino workers from the minimum wage and low-income sectors.
Moreover, the partnership between Pag-IBIG and private or government entities such as local government units (LGUs) through the Pag-IBIG Fund Countryside Housing Initiative (Pag-IBIG CHI) has rendered 98 housing projects across the country and 20 of them are located in Mindanao.
To strengthen the program, Sta. Teresa called on all interested entities, especially LGUs who wish to build housing projects for their constituents to forge partnerships with Pag-IBIG.
“We are also taking this opportunity to invite other developers and LGUs to join the roster of these noble-hearted organizations who are building homes in the countryside for their beneficiaries or constituents,” he said.
On the other hand, Diaz said that Pag-IBIG will intensify its efforts to reach more people and expand its programs and services, especially across Mindanao.
She cited the continuous deployment of their On-The-Go Multifunctional Pag-IBIG Branch or the Lingkod Pag-IBIG on Wheels (LPAW), particularly in far-flung areas.
Designed to make Pag-IBIG services more accessible to members in unserved and underserved communities, Diaz said that LPAO serves a pivotal role in “generating Pag-IBIG membership among the working group sectors while providing convenience to the existing members for access to Pag-IBIG programs and services.”
At present, Diaz revealed the LPAO has been deployed to 120 areas in Mindanao and has assisted around 32,000 members and facilitated over 44,000 transactions, such as registration, loans, and claim applications, among others. PIA DAVAO