“It is the sheer number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) which have made them top the list of Pag-IBIG membership last year,” said representative of Pag-IBIG Fund-Dubai and the Northern Emirates, Juanito Jareno.
He was interviewed after The Gulf Today obtained a copy from the Pag-IBIG Fund-Manila headquarters of its “Membership and Collection of the Overseas Posts — January to December 2011” report on Wednesday. Through the data, it was learnt that for 2011, out of 169,558 OFWs the following either reactivated their membership or became first-time members of the government housing and shelter agency: 80,804 from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, 36,664; Qatar, 24,972; Kuwait, 20,476; Bahrain, 5,509; and Oman, 1,133.
These OFWs are already among the aggregate 299,390 Pag-IBIG Fund members from the Gulf since the overseas programme began in the 1990s to inculcate the importance of saving among the sector as well as to help them acquire their own homes while leading a productive life.
The 2011 data on Pag-IBIG Fund-OFWs membership showed that second to those based in the Gulf, 76,490 signed in from other parts of Asia primarily from Singapore, 51,965; Hong Kong, 12,718; Brunei, 6,474; Taiwan, 3,615; Korea, 1,161; and other Asian countries, 557.
From Europe there were 15,997; from Italy, 9,325; UK, 3,027; Greece, 2,510; Spain, 290 and other European states, 345.
From North America there were 624 with the US at 382 and Canada 242.
Continue reading at Gulf Today
