DAVAO CITY — Mindanao borrowers are expected to take up about P9.6 billion worth of mortgages out of the P85 billion target set for the Home Development Mutual Fund, a fund official said here last week.
“We are hoping to hit the target,” according to Fermin A. Sta. Teresa, senior vice-president for lending operations of the fund, better known as Pag-IBIG.
As of September, Pag-IBIG had lent P6 billion in Mindanao.
Mr. Sta. Teresa said he is confident of hitting the target as more organizations have accessed loans from the Fund, among them schools and local government units. Last year, the fund lent about P7 billion in Mindanao, or about 10% of the P73 billion in mortgages nationwide.
He added that Mindanao’s performance tends to depend on three major cities: Davao, General Santos and Cagayan de Oro. However, recently several other local government units (LGUs) and private employers have been active in accessing funds for their constituents, among them the towns in Zamboanga del Norte.
Last week, the Fund signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ateneo de Davao University and Realty Investments, Inc. to set up of a housing project for employees of the university.
Mr. Sta. Teresa added that there are similar initiatives with other schools in Mindanao, like the one with the Southern City Colleges in Zamboanga City.
“More employers (in Mindanao) are coming in (to become partners in providing housing for their employees). To me it is a partnership because there is the desire of employers to provide homes to their employees,” he added.
Meanwhile, the fund also recognized the best performing developers in Mindanao for the first semester of the year.
The top-performing developers were 8990 Housing Development Corp., the VCDU Realty Corp., Malate Construction and Development Corp., Johndorf Ventures Corp., Urbaneast Developments Inc., Prestige Homes and Realty Development Corp., Bria Homes, Inc., Gensan VSM Realty Corp., Primeland Properties, Inc., and Prima Casa Land and Houses, Inc.
It also recognized employers like the Bukidnon provincial government, the Cagayan de Oro City government, Mindanao State University, the Tagum Agricultural Development Co., T-Nalak Labor Service Cooperative and General Services Multi-Purpose Cooperative. — Carmelito Q. Francisco
