Filipino Farmers Don’t Give Credit To Credit – What’s The ACPC For?

This is both a Glad and Sad Story. Glad: The Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) has maintained its ISO 9001:2015 QMS Certification[1] as of October 2020. Sad: Many a poor Filipino farmer remains the loser in the credit card game played in the villages.

Well, farmers don’t realize it as credit – they just know it’s Fast Cash, no questions asked, no collateral, no waiting in line. We call it “Five-Six” – it’s really a “Borrow Now Pay Later Plan” – borrow 5 pay 6, 20% interest within 100 days, even within 24 hours. Fast cash for the borrower, fat cash for the lender. Aren’t both happy?!

Isn’t that a failure of credit consciousness in the Philippines? Isn’t that a failure of an agency to promote credit worthiness in both borrowers and lenders?

No, not so fast! Because, right now, there is no single public agency tasked to promote the use and demote the abuse of farm credit in the Philippines. The nearest body I can think of is the ACPC, but my googling tells me I’m wrong.

A little bit but necessary history: The ACPC was created in 1986 by Executive Order (EO) 113 signed by President Corazon C Aquino on 24 December 1986. Via EO 113, according to its website[2], the ACPC was mandated:

To assist the Department of Agriculture (DA) in synchronizing all credit policies and programs in support of the latter’s priority programs. It was also tasked to review and evaluate the economic soundness of all on-going and proposed agricultural credit programs, whether for domestic or foreign funding, prior to approval. Also, ACPC was tasked to undertake measures to increase its funds base and adopt other liquidity interest stabilization and risk cover mechanisms for its various financing programs.

The ACPC is mandated to: “Synchronize all credit policies and programs.” “Review and evaluate the economic soundness of credit programs.” “Increase its funds base and adopt risk cover mechanisms for its financing programs.”

Nothing said about the ACPC officially acting on non-formal credit that farmers almost always turn to, to their dis/advantage.

The ACPC became an attached agency of the DA via EO 116 in 1987: “To support priority DA programs; to review & evaluate credit programs for funding; to increase funding for various programs.” No, nothing said about helping farmers with their dis/credit relationships with moneylenders. I wonder why.

I believe the lack of a specific law is to be blamed for the continued and widespread presence of usury in the farming villages. Convenience remains the enemy of poor farmers.

In the meantime, we can only urge the ACPC to do institutionally more to promote its role in carrying out its functions expanded by Republic Act (RA) 7607, the Magna Carta of Small Farmers, to: “(1) conduct institutional capacity building programs and (3) to develop special projects to promote innovative financing schemes for small farmers.” RA 7607 did not address credit ignorance and abuse.

I believe we need a PH law passed addressing the widespread Five-Six loan arrangements, with the ACPC taking charge.@517


[1]https://acpc.gov.ph/acpc-maintains-its-iso-90012015-qms-certification/

[2]https://acpc.gov.ph/about/#:~:text=Agricultural%20Credit%20Policy%20Council%20(ACPC,of%20the%20latter's%20priority%20programs.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Historical PH 1st Holy Mass: Mazaua Or Limasawa? Fr Amalla Vs Maria Serena Diokno Vs Ambeth Ocampo – And The Priest Is Right!

Image
We Filipinos celebrate 500 years of Christianity today Wednesday, 31 March 2021, Christianity brought to pagans by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailing the seas for Spain. The historical question is: Where was the first Holy Mass celebrated: “Limasawa” (in Leyte) or “Mazaua” (in Butuan)? Catholic priest Fr Joesilo C Amalla has just published the book (above), An Island They Called Mazaua, that argues the island of “Mazaua” in Butuan is the “true site of first Holy Mass in the Philippines [1] ”  and not “Limasawa” in Leyte (ANN, 07 January 2021, Manila Times ). The declaration and discussion are made by Butuan-based Fr Amalla in his 644-page book. Among other things, he writes: The truth is that the prevailing state- and church-affirmation and multiple reaffirmations of the island of Limasawa as the site of that first Holy Mass have no factual, historical and geographic (bases) whatsoever nor any shred of evidentiary support from cartographic studies, navigational in...
Read more

PSAU, An Outstanding Public University In Pampanga, To Lose 310 Hectares?

Image
310 hectares of public land in Pampanga currently under the jurisdiction of the Pampanga State Agricultural University (PSAU) are in an intellectual managerial deadlock, having to choose between 2 agrarian schemes: ü Agrarian Ownership? The Department of Agrarian Reform (the DAR) distributes the lands to new individual farmers.   ü Agrarian Stewardship? PSAU retains formal stewardship with profit sharing with countless landless farmers in such projects as: agroforestry, bamboo, coconut, coffee, genebank forestry, goat, mixed orchard, mulberry, silvipasture, and tamarind production. I think like that with the news story by William L Beltran , “PSAU Appeals Retention Of CARP-Able Landholding, Offers Stewardship [1] ”  (26 March 2021, PIA.gov.ph ). I can feel the anguish of PSAU’s President Honorio Soriano Jr . The 376 hectares of land owned and titled to PSAU have been, according to Mr Beltran, “validated by (the DAR) as coverable under the Land Reform Program of the...
Read more

UPLB, Where Has All Your Extension Gone? Gone To Flowers Everyone! When Will They Ever Learn?

Image
What do you mean “Extension”? Here is “Dean Umali’s Rule” as his colleagues remember it [1] : “When a farmer visits your office, stop everything you are doing and give him his due attention, for he is the primary commitment of your being in this institution.” What is known as “UPCA’s Golden Age of Extension” is 1959 to 1969, when Dioscoro L Umali was Dean of UPCA – that is according to Louise Sigrid Antonio et al writing 25 May 2014, “Dioscoro L Umali,” in their blog The Heat Ray Of Archimedes ). I was Freshman at UPCA when he became Dean in 1959; later, I remember UPCA agronomists really busy with national extension projects involving rice and corn. (top image [2]  from Philippine Science Heritage Center, Facebook ) On 20 November 1972, through Presidential Decree 58, the UP System was created, with UPLB as one of the universities in the system. Unfortunately, while the college UPCA grew into the university UP Los Baños, the Extension function grew out of the universit...
Read more