SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – Some 100,000 Pag-IBIG members will now have easier access to national savings program and affordable shelter financing as the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), more popularly known as the Pag-IBIG Fund, made this premier Freeport its new home.
The new office is located along Manila Avenue, just a block away from the Subic Freeport’s Rizal Gate. According to Branch Manager Roman G. Infante, the Subic office is ready to accommodate Pag-IBIG members working in Subic Freeport, as well those in Olongapo City and the province of Zambales.
He added that the need to put up an office here is great that the current workload has increased by almost 50 percent.
Infante said that the number of members coming to their office in Dinalupihan, Bataan was around 250 per day.
However, ever since the Pag-IBIG office started to operate in the Subic Freeport on September 1, they have been getting more than 300 members every day. With a total of 90,425 employees working inside this Freeport, a need to update their membership is necessary.
Infante said that his office is coordinating with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to ensure that all the members here are accounted for. “We have already talked to Atty. Severo Pastor of the Labor Department of SBMA, and he is willing to help us out in that endeavor,” Infante said.
The SBMA’s response, according to Infante, was more than friendly as Chairman Roberto Garcia himself welcomed the creation of the office here. “The biggest hurdle is the transition of our workers, since most of our workers come from Bataan. I, myself, am a resident of Pampanga. Usually it takes me 45 minutes to get home. Now it takes almost an hour and a half,” Infante said.
But Infante assured members that their work comes first, as he and his staff are willing to sacrifice for the sake of the Freeport workers. The HDMF was established to provide a national savings program and affordable shelter financing for the Filipino worker.
The Fund offers short-term loans and access to housing programs. It is mandatory for all SSS and GSIS-covered employees, uniformed members of the AFP, BFP, BJMP and PNP, as well as Filipinos employed by foreign-based employers.
Housing developers such as the Fiesta Communities and the Hanjin Employee Housing program are but some that have made houses affordable to the common working Filipino here.
