Pag-IBIG Fund has offered a grace period of 30 days on loan payments during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), which was prompted by the need to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Secretary Eduardo D. del Rosario, who heads both the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development and the 11-member Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees, said the agency had deferred loan payments of its 4.77 million borrowers for the duration of the quarantine.
“All of them are automatically covered by the grace period so they don’t have to apply for this anymore,” he said.
He said the move comes after the directive of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to alleviate the burden of Filipinos during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also cited Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayahinan to Heal as One Act, which provides under its implementing rules and regulations that borrowers of all lenders, which include Pag-IBIG Fund, a 30-day extension for loan payments which can be further extended until the end of the ECQ period.
With the grace period, Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said the agency had allowed the deferment of loan payments amounting to more than P15 billion from 713,225 housing loan borrowers and over 4 million cash loan borrowers.
“Pag-IBIG Fund has always put sustainability over profitability. And for us, sustainability starts with taking care of our members given that the Pag-IBIG Fund is owned by its members. Pag-IBIG is always ready to help whatever the situation, and this pandemic is no exception,” he said.
Under the Pag-IBIG Fund moratorium program, qualified borrowers are given a longer loan payment reprieve of three months, with all penalties and interests waived.
Members eligible to apply are borrowers of Pag-IBIG housing loan, multi-purpose loan, or calamity loan, whose incomes have been impaired by the ECQ or by the loss of jobs or closure of businesses as a result of the declarations of state of calamity or state of public health emergency in their area.
