Pag-IBIG: Borrowers won’t lose homes

We write to clarify the points raised in the article “22,000 Pag-IBIG members risk losing their homes, says COA” (7/17/18).

Please know that while the Commission on Audit observed that 22,123 accounts remained as contracts to sell (CTS) and have yet to be converted to real estate mortgages (REM), our housing loan borrowers won’t lose their homes, contrary to the Inquirer’s report.

Our borrowers have no reason to worry, because the nonconversion of the CTS accounts to REM bears no relation to the risk of losing houses.

The management of Pag-IBIG Fund has put safeguards in place to ensure that the home loan borrower’s rights are always protected. For one, the CTS is assigned to Pag-IBIG Fund and annotated in the title as proof that the borrower purchased that property. Second, Pag-IBIG can sanction developers who fail to convert CTS account to REM in the allowed period. Lastly and most importantly, Pag-IBIG itself 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.

Essentially, the only way that our housing loan borrowers face the risk of losing their homes is if they are not paying their monthly obligations, regardless of the conversion status of their properties.

While the Inquirer published the COA’s report on the nonconversion, it neglected to mention that, in the very same report, the COA gave Pag-IBIG Fund an Unqualified Opinion—the highest grade that the COA can give.

This means that, even with the COA observation, the commission saw fit to grant Pag-IBIG Fund its sixth consecutive Unqualified Opinion since 2012.

As public servants, we are very proud to achieve this feat. For us, the COA’s Unqualified Opinion is a badge of honor and serves as proof that we are administering the Filipino workers’ funds in the best possible way.

KARIN-LEI N. FRANCO-GARCIA, vice president, public relations and information services group, Pag-IBIG Fund