MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — An official from the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) in this City which covers northern areas of the province has noted a decrease in Pag-IBIG membership level this year, a situation which could be attributed to massive lay-offs of various export companies located within the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ).

Sara Eloisa Javier, Pag-Ibig Mandaue branch Chief of Divisions for Marketing and Enforcement bared that from January to November this year their branch has only reach a membership level of 236,804 while last year of the same period they recorded 242,857.

“As the economic recession badly hit the export sector here, as reflected by massive lay-offs, we have also noted lesser membership this year,” she said.

Javier added that aside from the decrease of its members, they have also observed lesser loan borrowers for multi-purpose loans (MPL).

MPL borrowers this year came to only 81,475 while last year during the same period Pag-Ibig Mandaue branch was able to register 84,211 borrowers, with the agency disbursing a total of P1.205 billion.

However, Javier pointed out that their housing loans are higher this year with 1,722 acquired units covering 1,730 borrowers, which has a loan value of P1.199 billion.

Last year, the said branch only registered 1,385 housing units covering 1,398 borrowers with a loan value of P848.344 million.