THE Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG Fund, made it clear on Wednesday that it will still hold consultations with employer and labor groups before implementing any increase in premium rate contributions.
In a statement sent to the BusinessMirror, Pag-IBIG reacted to this newspaper’s story quoting a House of Representatives official urging the President to also defer premium hikes of the Social Security System (SSS) and the Pag-IBIG.
The report said “Pag-IBIG has also increased its monthly contributions to P150 starting this year [2023] from P100.”
However, the Fund officials made it clear that “Pag-IBIG Fund shall first conduct consultations with employer and labor groups before it implements any contribution increase.”
House Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro on Tuesday made the suggestion to the Palace as she welcomed the deferment of the premium hike of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) due to socioeconomic challenges, as Malacañang had announced.
“This is good but I think we can cite the same reason to also defer the premium hikes of the Social Security System [SSS] and the Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG Fund. Inflation is still rising, with the first week of 2023 ushering in a big time oil price hike and a staggering increase in water and power rates,” said the teacher solon.
“Malacañang can also write or order the board of directors of the SSS and Pag-IBIG to defer their contribution hikes because Filipino workers need every peso that they earn to feed their families now,” added the Deputy Minority leader.
Malacañang has announced the suspension of the scheduled hike in premiums of the PhilHealth from 4 percent to 4.5 percent that would have seen the lowest-earning members pay P50 more on top of their P400 monthly contribution.
