Vol. XXI, No. 159 [ Business World Online ]
Thursday, March 13, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
TACLOBAN CITY — The city governments of Ormoc in Leyte and Calbayog in Samar have signed separate agreements with the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) on the enforcement of mandatory coverage for private sector employees.
There are only 28,436 active members of HDMF, or Pag-IBIG Fund, in Eastern Visayas and around 70,000 inactive members.
Including state employees, the total workers covered by Pag-IBIG in the region reached only over 200,000, or an eighth of the 1.6-million minimum wage earners in the region.
Flordelis Menzon, HDMF regional manager, said the two local government units will help compel private establishments to comply with the law.
HDMF is also coordinating with the Labor department in monitoring compliance.
"Almost all of our active members are government employees. Only a few are in the private sector. Under the law, it is mandatory for employers to provide Pag-IBIG coverage to their workers," Ms. Menzon said in an interview with BusinessWorld.
Republic Act 7742, which took effect in 1995, provides that membership in the Pag-IBIG Fund shall be mandatory for all employees covered by the Social Security System or the Government Service Insurance System and who are earning at least P4,000 a month.
Membership for employees who earn less than P4,000 a month shall be on a voluntary basis. The Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity adjusted in December 2007 the minimum wage to P228 daily.
Jennylind Barreta, chief of the Pag-IBIG fund regional marketing and enforcement section, said that with the recent adjustment in the minimum wage, all private workers in the region have qualified for mandatory coverage. — Sarwell Q. Meniano
