BY JOHNNY NOVERA
ON November 18, 2014 or 10 days after super typhoon “Yolanda” brought devastation to the island province of Leyte, we wrote an article with the title, The Banks in Leyte.
We mentioned that there were 51 banks in Leyte, comprising of 23 universal / commercial banks based mostly in the cities of Tacloban and Ormoc, and the 28 remaining ones were savings and rural or cooperative banks mostly spread out in the municipalities.
What happened why they have not evidently extended a helping hand to the typhoon victims?
Are they still out there or were they also swept out by the floods to become inutile?
We pointed out the inherent power of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to intervene and persuade banks to deploy their funds in the devastated areas. But none of that happened, even if just about 100 days before the calamity, the banks had withdrawn P1.2 trillion of their special time deposit (STD) from the BSP because the latter reduced the interest rate to only 1.5 percent per annum. Where did they bring all that money? We ask again.
To Bangko Sentral and the banks in Leyte, where are your hearts? Now, this lends some truth to the joke we cited that “a banker is a fellow who lends you an umbrella when the sun is shining but would get it back promptly when it starts to rain.”
The calamity in Leyte can happen to us also here in Western Visayas. Maybe, we can try to find out if our local banks will not be like the ones we have in Leyte province by asking them now if we can borrow money in time of emergencies like floods and typhoons?
By their answer you will know if you should continue patronizing them or not.
Now, the latest report we got from a newspaper article on June 4th is “LEYTE REHAB TO BE IMPLEMENTED SOON” by the government.
“Yolanda” was seven months ago! How soon is “soon”? (For comments or reactions, please e-mail tojnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
