BAGONG Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera on Sunday warned the state-owned Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) it will be violating the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (R.A. 11469) if it insists on requiring its members with existing loans to fully pay their unsettled monthly amortizations soon after the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is lifted in their areas.
Herrera, a deputy majority leader, said it is “unfair” for Pag-IBIG to require members to settle all loan amortizations due during the quarantine period on or before the next due date after the lifting of ECQ.
“Hindi po ‘yan makatarungan at hindi po ‘yan naaayon sa batas na ipinasa natin (This is unjust and this is not in accordance with the law we passed),” she said in a statement.
Aside from the announcements in its official social media pages, Herrera said one of Pag-IBIG’s top officials has said in an interview that all amortizations due must be paid in full on the “first working day” after the ECQ is lifted.
“Nananawagan po tayo sa Pag-IBIG, dapat kayo po ang numero unong nakikisama sa ating mga kababayan. Hindi ninyo puwedeng i-expect na pagbalik sa trabaho bibiglain ninyo na two or three months’ worth ang babayaran nila (We’re appealing to Pag-IBIG. You should be the first to bear with our citizens. You can’t expect them to pay two or three months of amortization once they get back to work),” she said.
Under Section 4 (aa) of the Bayanihan Act, all lending institutions are instructed to grant a 30-day grace period or extension on loan payments during the ECQ without imposing interest or penalties on borrowers.
Pursuant to this provision, the Department of Trade and Industry issued Memorandum Circular No. 20-12, Series of 2020, which provides that any payment due during the ECQ will be deferred to at least 30 days after the due date.
In case of multiple loan payments due within the ECQ, these payments should be amortized or divided equally across six months after the 30-day grace period and to be paid on top of regular payments.
Herrera said the Pag-IBIG Fund should review the relevant provisions of the law and the DTI circular “and apply them accordingly.”
“In these trying times, our primary goal must be to ease the burden of our people so that they can focus on overcoming this pandemic and not worry about finances,” Herrera said.
Herrera also called out the Pag-IBIG Fund for giving borrowers the option to apply for a three-month moratorium on their loan payments, saying the process should be automatic.
Pag-IBIG Fund earlier announced that borrowers have until June 15 to apply for the moratorium online. The moratorium allows borrowers to pay only one-month loan amortization and insurance premiums during the three-month period, on or before the next due date after June 15.
“If indeed Pag-IBIG Fund sincerely wants to provide relief to its borrowers in this time of crisis, it should make sure that all of them are covered by the moratorium and need not file a request or application with the fund,” Herrera said.
