PRESIDENTIAL Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said he will inquire about Land Bank of the Philippines’s (LandBank) $85-million loan to Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil) after corn farmers group said the bank’s loan to the ailing shipbuilder was against its mandate.
“I will write to the LandBank about the status of the loans and when did it start and, if there is a collateral, to inform the President. And then the President will take action,” Panelo said in a briefing on Tuesday.
Last year, President Duterte ordered LandBank to return to its original mandate of helping farmers and fishermen. Panelo said it could also be possible that the loans occurred prior to Duterte’s presidency.
“Maybe the loans you were saying occurred prior to the presidency—we don’t know. When were the shipyard loans availed? Maybe Duterte was still not the President at that time,” he said.
Panelo’s statement came after Philippine Maize Federation (PhilMaize) urged Duterte and lawmakers to investigate the LandBank’s loan to Hanjin. PhilMaize President Roger Navarro pointed out to the BusinessMirror that it was against Landbank’s mandate to prioritize the provision of financial aid to Filipino farmers and fishermen.
“The President should look into this and find out why [a shipyard] was prioritized over farmers,” Navarro said.
“LandBank can’t even condone the loans of farmers’ cooperatives. These cooperatives bring food to the tables of Filipino families. What a display of misplaced priorities,” Navarro said.
Navarro said PhilMaize will write to Duterte, lawmakers and to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol to air their concerns over LandBank’s loan to Hanjin.
For its part, Malacañang said it will welcome any letter coming from any citizen.
LandBank President and CEO Alex V. Buenaventura told reporters earlier about the bank’s exposure to Hanjin. Buenaventura also expressed hopes the bank can recover its loan.
“We’ll have to address the problem. But the good news is that we can recover because the assets of the shipyard are worth $1.2 billion, and the total exposure of the creditors is less than $400 million; down the road we hope to recover our exposure,” Buenaventura said. “I think the shipping industry is a very important industry, supporting global development. The global economy is improving, the time will come, and I think it’s around the corner, there will be a lot of moving goods through ships.”
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has also said earlier that LandBank and other four creditor banks of Hanjin should focus on working together to address the financial fallout from the troubles of the giant Korean shipbuilder.
“LandBank has an exposure to Hanjin, together with other banks. I don’t know the exact exposure of the other banks, but definitely, we are not the largest single lender. It’s a problem, we have to address it,” said Dominguez, who is also chairman of LandBank. “There are assets to be had, and this is a difficult problem; it has to be worked through by the banks.”
On January 9, the BusinessMirror broke the story that Hanjin filed for corporate rehabilitation at the Olongapo Regional Trial Court, seeking protection from its creditors.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes