DAVAO CITY—The eastern coastal city of Mati, Davao Oriental, has increased to P200,000 the amount that “responsible” entreprenuers could avail of from the city government.
The Mati local government unit, through its city council, also retained its zero interest policy for loans originally offered when the first P12 million-stimulus fund was started.
The city government has specified that only responsible businesses could avail of the loans, as it required prospective borrowers to show proof of their audited financial statement of income tax returns and their business plan to which the money would be spent.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Mati City doubled last month the maximum loanable amount when it revised the original City Ordinance No. 463 series of 2020 that created the Tabang Aron Tubagon Ang Krisis sa Mga Negosyanteng Responsabli (Help to Address the Crisis of Responsible Business) or Tatak MNR Program Ordinance of 2020.
The current City Ordinance No. 481 series of 2021 revised last year’s offer of only P10,000 to as much as P100,000 the loanable amount to businesses which have been affected by the community quarantine.
The City Information Office said the new provisions of City Ordinance No. 481 “now allow businesses with sole proprietorship, associations registered in government units and businesses registered on or before December 2020 to be qualified borrowers to avail the Tatak MNR Program.”
“The Affidavit of Gross Sales is also added to the loan requirements aside from the photocopy of Audited Financial Statement and/or Income Tax Return for both business and operator for the past one to three years. Moreover, the City Ordinance No. 481 will increase the maximum amount of loanable money from the program to P200,000,” it added.
It said the loan “remains with zero percent interest and approval still depends on the business plan and capacity to pay of the operator.”
As of the end of May, some 73 borrowers were granted the loan, and the city has so far released P5.2 million. The Tatak MNR still has P6.8 million remaining fund available. Interested borrowers may inquire with the Trade, Industry, Investment, Development and Promotions Office located at the City Hall.
Meanwhile, the city has began offering its own “Mati’s Choice Chicken” in three stalls in Mati Public Market at P160 each.
“This is a great help to the Matinians so that they could buy chicken at a cheap price amid the pandemic and they could taste the fresh chicken produced by the Mati farmers themselves,” said City Councilor and Committee Chairman on Agriculture Eric Rabat.
The supply of Mati’s Choice chicken was still limited though, with only 1,500 bags per week and limiting each customer to only two bags of chicken.
The limited supply is due to the ongoing construction of the chicken dressing plant in Sudlon, the information office said.
Mati’s Choice Chicken is a private sector initiative, produced by Farmers Choice Agri Trading, the office said. It added that the producers asked the city government to help them with the promotion of poultry.
“The private sectors came up with this idea to help deflate the price of chicken. There is no government intervention here. Everytime you buy Mati’s Choice Chicken, you help a family of farmers,” Rabat added.