VICE President and concurrent Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees Noli “Kabayan” De Castro today announced that Pag-IBIG members who are presently unemployed due to termination of employment contract, closure of company, lay-off, and retrenchment, will be given financial assistance under a Special Short Term Loan (STL) Program for Displaced Workers.
“This measure is part of our effort to mitigate the effects of the global financial crisis on our unemployed members,” De Castro said.
Members who must have made at least 24 monthly contributions can borrow an amount equivalent to fifty percent of their total savings. The loan is payable in three years, including a one-year grace period.
Unemployed members with existing MPL, can borrow up to 50 percent of their remaining savings as Pag-IBIG has already deducted or offsetted the balance of their earlier loan from their outstanding contributions. The Fund has also condoned any incurred penalties.
Mr. Jaime Fabiana, officer in charge, informed that members need to submit an accomplished MPL Application Form and a notice of separation from employment/termination of services or a certification of retrenchment or lay-off.
“We will secure a list of companies that closed and a list of repatriated overseas Filipino workers from the Department of Labor and Employment to speed up the processing of applications,” he said.
Members who have been inactive for more than six months, should update their membership record prior to filing their loan applications.
For the members’ convenience, their loan proceeds will either be credited to the borrower’s bank account through the Land Bank’s Payroll Credit Systems Validation (PACSVAL) or the Philippine Domestic Dollar Transfer System (PDDTS) facilities, and other similar modes of payment. Proceeds may also be released through a check, payable to the borrower.
Members can pay to any Pag-IBIG Fund office or to any of its authorized collecting agents or banks. Should they find employment at any time during the loan term, they may continue paying through their new employers.
Members may renew their STL after paying six monthly amortizations.
The Fund has released close to P5.6 billion in short term loans for the first two months of the year, representing a 20 percent increase over the P4.7 billion level recorded for the same period in 2008.
Source: www.pagibigfund.gov.ph
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