By Pia Lee-Brago Updated March 07, 2009 12:00 AM [ philstar.com ]
MANILA, Philippines - Vice President and Urban Development Council (HUDCC) chairman Noli De Castro welcomed yesterday Congress approval of the Home Development Mutual Fund Law of 2009 that commits the institution to invest in housing and the inclusion of his proposal retaining the original mandate of the Pag-IBIG Fund “to invest not less than 70 percent of its investible fund to housing.”
De Castro appealed to the House of Representatives and the Senate to include a key provision in Republic Act 7742 to invest 70 percent of its funds in housing.
The provision of the 1994 law, that amended the original Pag-IBIG Fund Charter, mandates the institution “to invest not less than 70 percent of its investible fund to housing...”
Sen. Edgardo Angara, who chairs the committee, said the provision had been inadvertently left out in both the Senate and House versions of the bill.
De Castro pointed out the omission after the Senate passed its version of the bill. He told the bicameral conference committee that the provision should be retained “to ensure that, with the latest amendments to the Pag-IBIG charter, the fund will still continue to provide funding support to the housing sector.”
“The main idea behind the law is to strengthen Pag-IBIG as the main source of funding for shelter finance in the country. It is therefore necessary to reiterate in the new law that the bulk of its investible funds should still go to housing. Otherwise, we defeat the purpose of amending its charter in the first place,” De Castro said.
Committee member Rep. Eduardo Zialcita supported this, commenting that “the raison d’etre of Pag-IBIG has always been housing,” and should still be its “primordial objective” under the new law.
The law exempts Pag-IBIG from paying taxes, empowers its board of trustees to set contribution rates, and allows the fund to implement a competitive compensation plan to retain and attract employees.
It is expected to help boost the national economy by increasing the funds available for housing.
The housing sector has a high multiplier effect, with every peso invested resulting in a P16 input to the economy.
Sources from Pag-IBIG Fund disclosed that De Castro was kept in the dark by the management of the Fund when they quietly worked and almost succeeded in changing the shelter agency into a provident fund and increase the perks of its officials.
The Pag-IBIG management, sources said, planned to pattern the agency after SSS and GSIS that will concentrate on pouring its investments in big companies instead of the “difficult” and “problematic” housing program. The investments would also mean big perks for the management.
“The Vice President is suspecting that the management wants to remove this provision on 70 percent so Pag-IBIG will become a provident fund. We are investigating,” one of the sources said.
He urged the Senate and Lower House to restore the provision in the Charter of Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) or Pag-IBIG Fund that the shelter agency should “invest not less than 70 percent of its investible fund to housing.
De Castro thanked the Senate and House for pushing the amendments in the charter of Pag-IBIG Fund to strengthen not only the Pag-IBIG Fund but the entire housing sector as well.
He said the draft bills approved by Congress would restore the tax-exempt privilege of Pag-IBIG Fund and authorize the board to set the contribution rates of members which would result in additional funds for the bene-fit of Pag-IBIG members.
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