Over 2,000 PAG-IBIG members in Puerto Princesa City have availed of calamity loans since the pandemic began to help them cope with present economic difficulties.
Branch officer-in-charge Emely Platero said Tuesday that within the 90-day span of availability of calamity loan, there were 2,006 members who qualified for a loan.
Qualified members may loan up to 80 percent of their total contributions.
“Yong iba kasi, isang reason for disapproval of calamity is kapag may existing loans ka, kaka-loan mo pa lang and nag-avail ka uli ng calamity, wala ka na mapo-proceed. Ang calamity loan natin at MPL (multi-purpose loan) is from 80 percent of our total savings, ‘yon ang malo-loan mo. Kung kaka-loan mo lang sa multi-purpose loan at gusto mo uli mag-calamity, wala ka na makukuha,” she said.
Platero explained that calamity loans and multi-purpose loans (MPL) are from the 80 percent of member’s savings. Those borrowers who were disqualified are those who have initial loans prior such as MPL.
She said that due to lack of transport, members from far-flung areas and towns were not able to visit the branch office to apply for calamity loans. Platero said that they want to extend help especially to those who were displaced due to the effect pandemic to the workforce and local businesses.
Other applicants do not have cash cards from LandBank or loyalty cards to avail of the online loan process through virtual Pag-IBIG. The local branch is also encouraging its members to avail of the loyalty card for the needs in the future.
“Actually, kung sa number of applications, okay na siya pero mas gusto namin na makatulong pa sa members natin na nangangailangan especially ‘yong mga nasa malalayong lugar, especially din sa members natin na nawalan ng trabaho kaya lang ang isang nakikita natin na problema is ‘yong unang-una ay walang transport, ‘yong malalayong lugar lalo na sa munisipyo ay hindi talaga makapunta rito,” she said.
PAG-IBIG local branch has accomplished 103 percent for the January to June semester for short-term loan (STL) applicants.
“Mas marami pa rin ang last year, mas mataas pa rin ‘yong availment ng loan natin noon compared ngayon. Siguro nga, isang naging factor dahil ‘yong transport before pwede naman na malalayong lugar ay nakakapunta rito, yong mga galing sa Coron, Busuanga. Itong period na almost four months, medyo mababa pero naka-103 percent pa rin kami dyan,” she said.
Platero said that their 2020 target for STL both MPL and calamity loan applications is 8,435 loans. As of June, Pag-IBIG Puerto Princesa has 4,067 approved borrowers or 48.2 percent of its target for the year.
From the span of January to June, Pag-IBIG Puerto Princesa has accumulated 2,061 loans for MPL.
“Si Pag-IBIG more on ang campaign namin ay sa multi-purpose loan, hindi naman talaga kina-campaign ang calamity kasi syempre ayaw naman natin na may calamity as area natin, the fact na meron tayong promo for multi-purpose loan availment, last year maraming nanalo na taga-Palawan,” Platero said.
“Hopefully (marami ang mag-avail ng MPL), kasi nahihirapan din kami sa campaign namin. Unang-una, wala rin kaming general assembly for employers, wala kaming travel for municipalities, hindi kami nakakapunta sa service desk naming sa Brooke’s Point, El Nido, Coron, San Vicente and minimal lang din ang communication dahil nga sa marami na rin nagsarang company, medyo nahihirapan kami makipag-communicate sa employers,” she added.
She said that the local branch is continuously having SMS blast and emails to fund coordinators to attain their target goal for 2020 number of loans.
