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The Cebu City branch of the Pag-Ibig Fund this year will tie up with local government units to hit its target of at least 331,000 members by end of 2010.
?We have coordinated with them because they are the ones who know the employers coming to them when processing permits,? said Maria Corazon Cinco, enforcement and marketing division chief of the Cebu City branch.
?For our branch alone, we hit only 95-percent of our target of 292,814 members last year. This year, we will be bullish and have set the target of 331,466,? Cinco said.
She added they were also encouraging employers and companies to give them at least an hour to orient their employees on the new law and how Pagibig can benefit the company.
Cinco was referring to the new Home Development Mutual Fund Law of 2009, which was enacted on Aug. 27, 2009.
?It's for free. All we ask is just an hour of their time. They can call us for a schedule so that we?ll go to their offices,? Cinco said.
Aside from increasing the membership, Pag-Ibig is in tying up with real estate developers in order to have more housing options for members, said Rio Teves, Pag-Ibig assistant branch manager.
?Last year alone, nationwide figures showed that Pag-Ibig had extended assistance to 90 housing projects with 500 to 10,000 housing units and amounted to a total of P43 billion. For Cebu City, we have disposed a total of P160 million to fund real estate projects,? Teves said.
Teves said the Cebu City branch would also aggressively implement the new HDMF law.
Starting July 2010, they will expect employers to follow the new rate schedule indicated in Republic Act 9679, Teves said.
?The purpose of the new law is to strengthen our capability of improving quality of life by providing sufficient shelter to our members, integrated nationwide savings, and by providing housing to qualified and eligible members through mobilization of funds,? Teves said during a recent forum organized by the Philippine Information Agency in partnership with the Association of Government Information Officers in region 7.
Teves said the salient features of the law provide that all SSS, GSIS and overseas Filipino workers, regardless of salary, will be covered by the Pag-ibig Fund.
The increase in available funds will enable them to provide funds for housing loans, especially now that the real estate development in Cebu is booming.
?The law will help us achieve our mandated obligation which is to provide housing loans to our members,? Teves said.
