Philippine workers offered chance to buy homes

“The government is looking at helping overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Taiwan to buy houses in the Philippines,” said Fabiana. To this end, “we are holding the first overseas Housing Fair in Taiwan. Later we will hold other Housing Fairs in Dubai and London.”

The fair, held at the Dominican School in Taipei, was the first of its kind organized outside the Philippines by the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) and the Pag-IBIG Fund.

According to information released by the MECO, the Housing Fair is a coordinated effort by government agencies such as the Pag-IBIG Fund, the Landbank of the Philippines (LBP), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and the Philippine Labor and Employment Office.

Pag-IBIG Fund is one of the Philippines government’s leading housing agencies.

The event in Taipei also featured booths set up by the LBP with the aim of providing an inexpensive service to workers in Taiwan who send remittances to the Philippines.

Fabiana said that many overseas Filipino workers (OFW) dream of building a new house for their loved ones. “We hope to help make their dream come true by hosting this Housing Fair in Taipei,” said Fabiana. “We provide housing loans at rates as low as 6%.”

“I think the interest rates for the housing loans are quite low,” said Silva Moonyen Ortiz, a Filipina who has been working in Taiwan for three years.

The fair attracted many OFWs residing in areas of northern Taiwan such as Taoyuan, Jhongli, Hsinchu and Keelung.

According to the MECO, there are 85,000 Filipinos in Taiwan and all of them are trying hard to provide for their families in the Philippines.

The housing fair will serve as venue for OFWs and developers to meet and will also facilitate arrangements for the housing projects to be tailor-made to the OFWs’ needs and requirements, the MECO said.

Most of the housing projects will be affordable and OFWs at the housing fair will be able to chose from among projects in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, it added.

Pag-ibig Fund is the Philippines government’s Home Development Mutual Fund that was created in 1978 to offer savings schemes and housing loan packages to Filipinos. It includes an overseas program, which offers Filipino overseas contract workers, immigrants and naturalized citizens an opportunity to save for the future and to access a housing loan of as much as 2 million Philippines pesos.

Philippine citizens working overseas can join the Pag-IBIG overseas program by first applying for membership and paying the required monthly contributions.

Last month, Pag-IBIG officials flew to Taiwan to promote the fund’s housing projects among OFWs in Taipei, Taichung in central Taiwan, and the southern port city of Kaohsiung. The Pag-IBIG Fund delegation visited factories and dormitories where they gave presentations on the programs and services being offered to OFWs.

In the absence of formal diplomatic ties, MECO is the de-facto embassy of the Republic of Philippines in Taiwan, handling trade and cultural exchanges between the two countries.

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