Members and pensioners of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) may now apply for a housing loan through the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund).

The GSIS said the Pag-IBIG Fund drew down the entire Php5 billion last Wednesday which will be used to augment the funds available for housing loans of the pension fund’s members and pensioners.

This, after GSIS President and General Manager Robert Vergara and Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Darlene Berberabe signed a Php5 billion credit facility agreement on November 14.

The facility was made available to Pag-IBIG in line with the GSIS’s decision to wind down its direct lending program last April in favor of forging partnerships with key shelter agencies (KSAs).

“We engaged with Pag-IBIG because of its proven expertise and housing infrastructure,”  PGM Vergara said.

In 2010, the GSIS extended only Php600 million in housing loans to its more than 500 members against Pag-IBIG Fund’s Php5.5 billion to over 11,000 government employees, ten times more what GSIS lent for housing to twenty times more government employees.

“This home lending program affirms our institution’s commitment to helping our stakeholders realize their dream of home ownership.”

“We invite all our members and pensioners, who want to avail of a housing loan to go to our partner Pag-IBIG. The GSIS has given Pag-IBIG more than enough funds to accommodate their housing needs,” Vergara said.