Pag-Ibig Fund Redux

I received a text message from my mom again today. She has learned from talking to real estate agents and vendors that it takes an average of 3 months for Pag-Ibig to release sale proceeds to the vendors. Because of this, a lot of vendors would prefer buyers who would be getting their funds from banks rather than Pag-Ibig fund.

This presents a problem for me because although I understand that not a lot of vendors would sit and wait around for their sale proceeds for 3 months, I don’t think I have a lot of choice available to me. You see, I don’t really have that much money saved up. I have enough for the reservation fee and a deposit but there’s no way I could pay for the rest in cash. This necessitates a home loan of some kind. But because I am an OFW residing outside the Philippines, the banks either want some proof of monthly remittance or a co-borrower who they could go after in the Philippines.

In my case, I only ever send remittance every two months to save on fees and I do so using a fellow Filipino’s service. If there ever is a record, it would be his record books and not the bank’s.

Now there’s the other option of getting a co-borrower. Because my mom doesn’t work, she’s automatically out of the running. My dad on the other hand, only earns a paltry salary and I suspect the bank would not accept him as a co-borrower. Then there’s the problem that my mom and dad are estranged and I don’t think my dad would like to help my mom in this venture.

Why is this so difficult?!?

Pag-Ibig fund update

Texted my mom today to ask if she has paid up my balance for Pag-Ibig fund. I’ve been paying monthly member contributions for 1.5 years now and have recently sent her money for the remaining 6 months I have to pay in order to apply for a housing loan. She replied that she has already paid for the balance and has in fact attended the required pre-loaning seminar yesterday.

She also re-affirmed that there would be a limit of 2 million for my loanable amount. However, she mentioned that because there are a lot of fees (and even something she called a donation!?), the real amount that I would be actually receiving if I do go for this loan only amounts to 1.6 million. This bit of news was a bit disappointing. Although I have suspected that there would be fees deducted from the loanable amount, I never imagined it to be this substantial.

It’s something of a case of false advertising in my opinion, Pag-Ibig fund should have listed this on their website so that prospective members would know what they are signing up for instead of just letting them know about it after the member has already paid 2 years worth of contributions. How difficult is it to include this information in the FAQ section of their site anyway?

Another thing that grates me is this mandatory seminar. Good thing my mom was able to attend in my place instead of me having to attend a seminar during my short stay in the Philippines when I go home. Why is it that people in the Philippine government doesn’t seem to have this concept of time efficiency and have to waste everybody else’s time?

I mean, I suppose some people who could not be bothered to read the rules and would like to be able to ask questions from an instructor would benefit from such a seminar but why the heck make it mandatory? Again, they should put up a FAQ on their site and get people applying for a loan sign a document stating that they have read and understand the conditions of the loan.

Big sigh.

Greater Manila map

Found this useful map of Manila suburbs at Wikimapia.

Content controls vs Item controls

Based on Pro WPF by Matthew MacDonald, controls derived from ContentControl base class allow a single nested element. Controls that derive from ItemsControl allow a collection of items that map to some part of the control (list or nodes). Panel controls are containers that are used to organise groups of controls. All these base classes use the ContentProperty attribute (Reference: Chapter 2 – XAML, p.37)

According to the MSDN site, the following controls derive from the ContentControl class:

System.Windows.Window
System.Windows.Controls.ListBoxItem
System.Windows.Controls.HeaderedContentControl
System.Windows.Controls.Frame
System.Windows.Controls.GroupItem
System.Windows.Controls.Label
System.Windows.Controls.ScrollViewer
System.Windows.Controls.ToolTip
System.Windows.Controls.UserControl
System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.ButtonBase
System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.StatusBarItem

Exam topic reference: Building User Interfaces, select and configure content controls

Listed below are the item controls:

System.Windows.Controls.HeaderedItemsControl
System.Windows.Controls.TreeView
System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.MenuBase
System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.Selector
System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.StatusBar

Exam topic reference: Building User Interfaces, select and configure item controls

WPF Certification Preparation Guide

As copied from the Microsoft Learning site.

Creating a WPF Application (13 percent)

• Select an application typeConfigure event handling.

• Configure commands.

• Configure page-based navigation.

• Configure application settings.

• Manage application responsiveness.

Building User Interfaces (20 percent)

• Select and configure content controls.

• Select and configure item controls.

• Select and configure layout panels.

• Integrate Windows Forms controls into a WPF application.

• Create user and custom controls.

Adding and Managing Content (16 percent)

• Create and display two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics.

• Create and manipulate documents.

• Add multimedia content.

• Manage binary resources.

• Manage images.

Binding to Data Sources (23 percent)

• Configure binding options.

• Bind to a data collection.

• Bind to a property of another element.

• Convert and validate data.

• Configure notification of changes in underlying data.

Customizing Appearance (20 percent)

• Create a consistent user interface appearance by using styles.

• Change the appearance of a UI element by using triggers.

• Add interactivity by using animations.

• Share logical resources throughout an application.

• Change the appearance of a control by using templates.

• Localize a WPF application.

Configuring and Deploying WPF Applications (8 percent)

• Deploy for standalone access.

• Deploy to a partial trust environment.

• Deploy an XBAP application.

• Manage upgrades.

• Configure the security settings of an application deployment.