Borrowers won’t lose homes — Pag-IBIG

MANILA, Philippines — Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), more popularly known as Pag-IBIG Fund, yesterday clarified that contrary to reports, 22,000 housing loan borrowers will not lose their homes after a report of the Commission on Audit showed that contracts to sell (CTS) have yet to be converted to real estate mortgage (REM).

“The management of Pag-IBIG Fund has put safeguards in place to ensure that the home loan borrower’s rights are always protected. This is primordial as we implement the housing sector’s initiatives and President Duterte’s directive to prioritize the delivery of reliable government services,” said Secretary Eduardo del Rosario, concurrent chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and Pag-IBIG Fund board of trustees.

Pag-IBIG Fund chief executive officer Acmad Rizaldy Moti noted that the non-conversion of CTS to REM is unrelated to the risk of losing houses.

“Borrowers have no reason to worry because regardless of the conversion status of their properties, the only way they face the risk of losing their homes is if they are not paying their monthly obligations,” Moti said.

Moti added that, to safeguard the borrower, the CTS is assigned to Pag-IBIG and annotated in the title as proof that the borrower purchased the property.

“Pag-IBIG can sanction developers who fail to meet the conversion timeline (and) Pag-IBIG can do the conversion by using the retention fee deducted from the developer to make sure that these titles will be transferred under the names of the borrowers,” Moti explained.