Pag-IBIG posts record P2.4-B net income

Pag-IBIG Fund, the government’s main housing funder, is proving why it is one of the strongest and most stable financial institutions in the country today.

Lawyer Romero Quimbo, president and chief executive officer of the Fund, recently announced that for the first four months of the year, Pag-IBIG Fund posted a net income (after taxes) of P2.4 billion, up by 46 percent compared to the same period last year.

Its total assets for the past three years grew to P148.44 billion by end of 2003 from P113.8 billion as of end 2000. As of April 2004, total assets of the Fund broke the P150 billion mark to reach P153.2 billion.

Net worth already stands at P119.7 billion as of the first trimester of 2004.

"The Fund’s financial strength and viability remains to be a top management priority. All our programs, especially our home financing programs, depend largely on the continuous flow of funds. Since housing loans are paid over long periods, shelter development requires a steady flow of long-term finance. We therefore have to be adept at maintaining our financial stability and sourcing new ways to sustain our cash flow," Quimbo said.

Meanwhile, Pag-IBIG’s collection level, covering contributions and loan amortization, showed a growth rate of 33 percent for the first four months of the year, compared to the same period last year.

Based on the 2003 Top 1000 Corporations compiled by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pag-IBIG Fund ranked ninth in the Top 10 Corporations in the Philippines in terms of net income, the only tax-paying government agency included in the list. Also listed with Pag-IBIG Fund are corporate giants Globe Telecom, PLDT, San Miguel Corp., Smart Communications, and Mirant (Philippines) Corp.

"Our phenomenal growth may be attributed to several measures which we carried out in the past three years. Notably, we have instituted a quarterly appraisal of our different operating groups to evaluate performance as we constantly monitor targets against actual accomplishment. We, of course, complemented these measures with the needed budgetary and manpower support," Quimbo added.