CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA) -- Pag-IBIG Fund increases its minimum monthly contribution rate from P200 to P400 effective February 2024, where P200 is collected from the employee and P200 from the employer.
Floyd V. Zapanta, assistant department manager and branch head of Pag-IBIG Fund Cagayan de Oro Lapasan Branch, shared in Talakayan sa PIA that this increase is expected to result in increased savings and dividends by the members.
“Ang old rate nato is P100 personal savings sa atong miyembro, then i-match siya sa atong employer, another P100. Just recently na-approve ang atong Pag-IBIG Fund Circular 406 after undergoing several consultations and the appropriate nod or approval from concerned agencies. Na approve siya, nahimo na siyang double,” said Zapanta.
[Our old rate was P100 in personal savings from our members, which was then matched by our employers by another P100. Pag-IBIG Fund Circular 406 was recently approved after several consultations and the appropriate nod or approval from concerned agencies. It was approved and became double.]
This amount is based on two percent (2%) of the maximum fund salary, or MFS, now P10,000. However, members can contribute more than the minimum amount of P200.
The increase is long overdue, he added, saying the previous rate of P100 had been collected since 1986.
Pag-IBIG Fund’s new monthly rates were initially approved by its Board of Trustees in 2019. However, due to the difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and 2022, the Pag-IBIG Fund Board deferred the increase of the agency’s savings rates. The agency again deferred the implementation of the increase in 2023, following the request of the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP). The deferment was also the Pag-IBIG Fund’s response to the call of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to alleviate the financial burden of fellow Filipinos due to the prevailing socio-economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The benefits of this increase are automatic, said Zapanta.
For one, when the member doubles its premium and doubles its counterpart, it could only mean an increase in savings, and another is an increase in dividends. Pag-IBIG Savings declares its dividends or interest every year, said Zapanta.
Each installment in Pag-IBIG that the member saves annually has a profit dividend and will be returned in full when the member matures, retires, or for other reasons.
Another is that it would result in a more sustained housing loan program because of sustainable funds from members while maintaining a low-interest rate, if not the lowest in the market, he added.
Pag-IBIG is universal; it is not only Kagay-anons that are mandated, but through the provision of Republic Act (RA) 9679, all Filipinos of legal age earning at least P1,000 are mandatorily covered by the Pag-IBIG fund.
“Kung naa kay regular income or employed ka regardless of our status, whether permanent, regular, periodic, whatever, basta makuha lang to nimo ang threshold nga 1,000 pesos per month, mandated ka by law, mandated pud ang employer to register, collect, and remit your monthly savings with Pag-IBIG Fund," he explained.
[If you have a regular income or are employed regardless of status, whether permanent, regular, periodic, or whatever, as long as you achieve the threshold of P1,000 per month, you are mandated by law as well as your employer to register, collect, and remit your monthly savings with the Pag-IBIG Fund.]
This is also true for self-employed and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs); the minimum is P400.
Pagibig, Pagtutulungan, Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya, Gobyerno, or Pag-IBIG is implemented under RA9679, essentially a workers fund, but has twin mandates of provident savings and housing loan programs. (JMOR/PIA-10)
