MANILA – The Land Bank of the Philippines needs to work closely with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Department of Agrarian Reform to address the concern raised by President Rodrigo Duterte, an official of the Finance department said on Wednesday.
In his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, Duterte tasked Congress to abolish LandBank “if there is no viable plan for the farmers.”
The state-owned lender was established to help farmers, but it got mired in so many commercial transactions, the President noted.
“There are two things that need to happen to comply and to follow the President. One is, LandBank will work very closely with the Bangko Sentral,” Finance assistant secretary Antonio Lambino II said in a media roundtable on Wednesday.
The central bank can make suggestions regarding what LandBank can do in terms of its loan portfolio mix.
Lambino said the bank must also coordinate with the Agrarian Reform department on matters related to the distribution of land titles to farmers.
“Second, may mga kailangan po tayong ayusin sa coordination sa Department of Agrarian Reform,” he said.
DAR needs to issue individual land titles for farmers, because its Certificate of Land Ownership (CLOA), or collective title, is not a simple document for a farmer to submit as it requires the signature of his fellow farmers, Lambino emphasized.
LandBank requires a CLOA in processing loan applications.
“Hindi po simple at streamlined ang sistema kapag ganun,” Lambino said. (GMA News)
