STATE-OWNED Land Bank of the Philippines reported that it has disbursed a total of P133.61 billion to more than 7 million beneficiaries of the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) programs in 2021.
According to a statement released by the bank on Monday, P123.74 billion of this amount was under the CCT program that benefited 4.4 million low-income families, for education and health needs of the children and financial support for households.
Meanwhile, a total of P9.86 billion was delivered to 2.8 million UCT beneficiaries, as part of support interventions in line with the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.
“[We] remain steadfast in the timely delivery of social protection interventions to the most vulnerable sectors. We will continue to work closely with the DSWD to contribute to the National Government’s inclusive development agenda,” LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo said.
The bank also said they upgraded the Cash Cards of all CCT and UCT beneficiaries into transaction accounts, to provide the beneficiaries wider access to an array of banking services.
“Beneficiaries can now perform cash card loading via Landbank branches, receive funds through the Landbank Mobile Banking App, and cash-in via Landbank Cash Deposit Machines, among others,” the bank said.
Previously, the CCT and UCT beneficiaries could only do limited transactions with their cash cards, such as withdraw cash from Landbank Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and Agent Banking Partners (ABPs) nationwide.
As of end-February this year, the state-run Bank has provided Cash Cards to 9.8 million CCT and UCT beneficiaries to facilitate more convenient withdrawals of social pension and grants in future payouts.
Profiteering?
Meanwhile, a deputy majority leader has asked the leadership of the House of Representatives to look into the alleged illegal profiteering of some insiders of the bank, who act as “go-betweens” or “agents” in loan applications.
In House Resolution 2543, ACT-CIS Rep. Nina Taduran said her office received information that these “go-betweens” or “agents” promise the fast approval of a loan in exchange for a 10- percent cut in the loan proceeds.
Taduran said she received information that 30 borrowers, more or less, were victimized by this scheme of LBP insiders.
“Some loans amounted to less than P100 million while others were way above said amount,” he said.
“This representation [also] wrote the management of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) regarding the plight of Mr. Alberto Ching, President of American Boulevard Trading Corp. American Blvd., through Mr. Ching, was sweet-talked into this scheme and applied for an initial loan of P50 million,” she added.
Despite the receipt by the LBP insiders of their cut, Taduran said a significant part of the loan proceeds was not released.
“The borrower was given all sorts of excuses and was coaxed by the “agents” to apply for another P50 million loan. Still, the release of the loan proceeds was delayed and incomplete. As a result, American Blvd. defaulted in its payments to suppliers and other creditors, which eventually led to the closure of its business and the loss of livelihood of its employees,” she added.
According to Taduran, the LandBank told her that it conducted an internal investigation and as a result, the bank terminated the involved employees and filed cases against them.
“Given the magnitude of the loan amounts involved and the Land Bank is a government-owned financial institution, it is urgent for this House to probe the matter,” said the lawmaker.
“The scheme, if proven true, will erode the public’s trust in the banking system,” she said.
“The Congress is duty-bound to protect the borrowing public as well as the entire banking system from nefarious practices of unscrupulous bank personnel,” she added.
Taduran said a copy of this resolution will be immediately sent to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), through the Monetary Board, for its appropriate action.