Driving home a point By Arnold A. Altamira
(Originally posted on Condo Central Magazine - March 2007)
Atty. Romero F.S. Quimbo, president and CEO of Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG Fund as it is more popularly known, sits down with Arnold A. Altamira, not only to discuss how brick by brick they’ve been able to rejuvenate the sputtering agency, but likewise to offer his take on what is needed for the more important task that is nation-building.
Lawyer Romero Federico S. Quimbo was 32 and concurrently president of a pioneering dotcom corporation and an associate at one of the country’s leading law firms when then Housing chairman Michael T. Defensor popped an interesting proposition: How would you like to work for the government?
Others would readily scoff even at the idea of trading a profitable and promising private career for one in the crazy bureaucracy. But for Quimbo, it was an eventuality just waiting for its opportune unfurling. The erstwhile student leader and activist has always viewed government work, even if for the briefest stint, as something every able-bodied and nationalistic citizen should do. And contrary to the perennial pronouncements of professional doomsayers that involvement in the public sector irreversibly taints, he believes that government service is, or can be, honorable and decent. Proof of this, he maintains, is his own family. Both his parents were government employees and yet they managed to raise 10 upstanding and respectable children.
While there were other government agencies making a bid for Quimbo’s services at that time, it was this particular offer for a stint at Pag-IBIG Fund that eventually made him decide to turn his back, albeit temporarily, at a thriving career in the private sector. “I’ve always believed in Secretary Defensor’s vision and sincerity. Plus, I knew that under him, I will be given the needed leeway to implement policies and do things I feel should be done,” Quimbo explains.
Challenge
Taking stock of his arsenal was Quimbo’s initial order of business upon assuming the top post at Pag-IBIG in 2002. The agency then was performing satisfactorily, quietly delivering on its mandate but he knew there was plenty of room for improvement. It did not take long before he saw why the agency was underachieving. “A road map was essentially non-existent. There were no clear goals nor clear directions. Records were not integrated. Also there was not a coherent and scientific basis for targets and expectations in relation to the fund’s true capacity and potential. And there was no accurate performance appraisal system,” he says.
Luckily, he had one thing going for him – the employees. “To be honest, I was surprised at the care and commitment with which Pag-IBIG employees treated the agency – this despite the fact that they are among the lowest-paid in the government,” he exclaims. “Never mind that systems and structure were all over the place. That can be fixed. The more important thing was that I had this group of dedicated and honest employees who are going to work with me.”
He instantly rewarded the culture of honesty in the agency by holding over staff members from the previous administration. He wanted to show everyone that he had nothing to hide and he had no intention of making Pag-IBIG his fiefdom. He likewise took the daring step of empowering the managers, entrusting them with greater responsibilities under a decentralized system. This was counterbalanced by the introduction of a performance appraisal system to chart employee accountability.
In no time, Pag-IBIG was running like a well-oiled machine. There was renewed pride and vigor in the workplace. And it manifested clearly in the numbers.
Results
As per 2005 figures, Pag-IBIG Fund was the eighth largest among all tax-paying corporations in the country in terms of net income. Before Quimbo’s time, the Fund was not even listed among the country’s top 500 corporations. Its total assets last year of P191.5 billion and net income of P7.4 billion are the highest in the Fund’s entire history. The net income figure represents a 300 percent improvement in just four years’ time.
Pag-IBIG has likewise become the biggest and most dominant real estate player in the country today. In 2004 alone, 36 percent of all mortgages in the entire country were financed by Pag-IBIG. The rest were backed by 18 universal banks, about 200 thrift banks, and the other government financing institutions. In 2005, the Fund lent out P17 billion to its members, as compared to just P5 billion in 2001.
Recognition
Even if it was not required, Pag-IBIG submitted itself to the corporate credit rating process of the Philippine Ratings Services Corporation (PhilRatings). Usually given exclusively to private conglomerates, the credit-worthiness rating was undertaken, as Quimbo explains “for greater transparency, disclosure and to promote good governance.” Pag-IBIG received an ‘AAA minus’ rating, only the third corporation in the past three years to have done so, validating the Fund’s “very strong capacity to meet its financial commitment relative to that of other Philippine corporations.”
Last October 2006, the United Nations recognized the Fund as one of the seven outstanding human settlement organizations in the world when it conferred the agency the prestigious UN Scroll of Honor during the World Habitat Day.
While Quimbo has successfully towed Pag-IBIG to unprecedented heights, his excellent work has not come unnoticed. In recognition of his leadership skills, Quimbo was voted President of the Philippine Social Security Association (PHILSSA), the partnership of government agencies providing social security composed of GSIS, SSS, PhilHealth, AFPRSBS, ECC, PCSO, and Pag-IBIG. And just late last year, he was named a TOYM awardee for the usually stringent category of Government Service.
Apart from the agency’s exceedingly honest and dedicated workforce, Quimbo credits the former and current HUDCC leaderships for the agency’s unmatched success. “I only had smooth sailing during Chairman Defensor’s time. I’m glad that the present Housing chief, no less than Vice President Noli De Castro, has been similarly encouraging and helpful. None of this would have been possible if not for their unstinting support,” he declares.
Recommitment
Instead of resting on all these accomplishments and recognitions, Quimbo sees more work ahead. He explains, “There is a very basic acknowledgement that the government by itself cannot solve the housing problem. The private sector has to be involved. And the only way to do this is to create an environment friendly to all stakeholders in housing.”
Pag-IBIG does so by simply showing that there is money to be made in housing. “We have made it a conscious effort to implement policies that are geared, not only for the benefit of our members, but likewise to encourage participation of the private sector in housing programs,” he says.
Fulfillment
If Quimbo seems too much in a hurry, it is perhaps because he does not see himself staying in government for very long.
“As I’ve said, I’ve but postponed my career in the private sector,” he says. He believes other young brilliant minds should fall in line and offer their services.
“Apart from seeing it as a duty, one of the reasons I entered government service this early is I simply got tired of people, especially my friends, whining about the sad state of the government. I wanted to show them that the best solution is to be the solution. The day I walk out of this office, I am going straight to my friends and haul them all to the nearest government agency so they can stop complaining and start serving. I just don’t have the time and the energy right now,” he chuckles.
That day comes, the private sector will have surely gained a valuable soldier, and most certainly will do everything to keep him in its fold for as long as possible.
Well, perhaps only until Quimbo’s constant pangs for public service again begins begging for attention.