The party-list group Butil on Friday thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for ordering the Land Bank of the Philippines to revert to its original mandate of supporting small farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries.
The group, headed by Rep. Cecil Chavez, told reporters that the LandBank “has lost its way and has gone full corporate” in violation of its original mandate.
Following Duterte’s order, several legislators have been reported to be preparing either resolutions or bills that call on the LandBank to focus on agricultural loans. House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez of Leyte is expected to prioritize the measures in the chamber’s agenda.
Former Rep. Cecil Chavez said that the misery and impoverishment of small farmers is partly due to the lack of a dedicated credit at cheap rates to small Filipino farmers, similar to the interest charges on small farmers in Thailand and other progressive farming countries.
“Time and again, Butil Party-list has been saying this: Credit is the lifeblood of farm production, accessible and affordable credit is critical to farm production. Farmers must have financial accessibility which would include government subsidy and grants.” Chavez said.
Chavez said that the P800 billion yearly loan portfolio of the LBP “ goes to the like of bankrupt Hanjin and almost zero for small farmers .” Chavez said that of the $412-million unsecured loan granted by five banks to Hanjin, $85 million came from the Land Bank of the Philippines.
Chavez said that what is reported as “agriculture lending’’ in the yearly report of the LBP is mostly loans granted to agri-business giants and to corporate interests allied to agri-business.
“Through the years, the supposed lending of the LBP to agriculture has been to corporate agriculture and never to small farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries,” Chavez said.
Chavez said that while the LBP takes pride in its industry rankings, being third in assets and always on the list of the Top 4 banks in the country, “that has been achieved with the farmers as sacrificial lambs.”
Chavez said small farmers are monitoring the compliance of Land Bank with the presidential directive , which gives the LBP up to the end of this month to come out with a “ reform and retooling plan.”
“We can only hope that President Duterte will not be pressured by his economic team , which supports the status quo at the LBP, to change his mind about reforming the bank,” said Chavez.
