The Duterte administration infused a combined P53.3 billion into state-run lenders Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines over a five-year period, larger than the combined capital infusions from all administrations since the two banks were established, the Department of Finance said Thursday.
Data from LandBank showed it received P38.79 billion in capital infusion under the Duterte presidency as of Feb. 28, 2021, which accounted for 72.11 percent of the total paid-up capital of the bank.
DBP president Emmanuel Herbosa, meanwhile, said the bank received P14.5 billion in capital infusion under the Duterte administration.
“LandBank’s paid-up capital of P1.8 billion in 1992 grew at a slow phase, as the past administrations did not inject capital into the bank but was instead issued stock dividends. It was only during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III that the government infused capital into LandBank in the amount of P3.03 billion,” the DoF said.
From 1992 to 2010, the government did not infuse additional capital into LandBank but its paid-up capital still increased from P1.8 billion to P11.97 billion with the issuance of stock dividends.
LandBank issued stock dividends worth P5.6 billion during the administration of then- President Fidel Ramos; P1.6 billion during the term of President Joseph Estrada; and P2.97 billion during the time of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
It said that since President Duterte took over in 2016, the government invested P38.79 billion in LandBank, of which P27.5 billion was infused in February 2021, in line with the provisions of Republic Act No. 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) to support wholesale banking services and extend low-interest rate loans to sectors severely affected by the economic shock of COVID-19. Julito G. Rada
DBP said P12.5 billion of the P14.5 billion infused by the Duterte administration into the bank was in step with the Bayanihan 2 law provisions to let the bank provide wholesale banking services and cover the loans and interest subsidies of pandemic-hit enterprises.
This P12.5-billion infusion represented 39 percent of DBP’s total paid-up capital of P32 billion. Julito G. Rada
