NAIS ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte na maglaan ng karagdagang P4 billion sa micro lending program ng Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) upang mabawasan pa ang presensiya ng loan¬sharks sa merkado, ayon kay Agriculture Sec. Emmanuel F. Piñol.
Sinabi ni Piñol na binanggit ito ng Pangulo habang tinatalakay ng mga opisyal ng pamahalaan ang tumataas na retail prices ng farm products sa halos walong oras na Cabinet meeting nitong Hunyo 11.
Aniya, isang teorya ang lumutang sa Cabinet meeting na tumuturo sa problema sa puhunan ng maliliit na vendors at negosyo bilang dahilan ng tumataas na retail prices ng farm products.
“One theory came up last [Cabinet meeting] was the problem in the market with regards to the capitalization of small vendors. Last [Cabinet meeting] the President said he may have to add another P4 billion to DTI’s lending program this year,” wika ng kalihim.
“Because the target right now is to neutralize the usurious lending to public market vendors, who because of the very high rates of their borrowings have to jack up the prices of their commodities in order to recover. At the end of the day the it is only the loan sharks who are earning,” dagdag pa niya.
Bilang halimbawa, sinabi ni Piñol na naobserbahan ng DTI ang malaking pagkakaiba sa pagitan ng farm-gate price at retail price ng manok sa wet markets ngayon.
“There was hardly any increase in the prices of chicken at the farm-gate but when it reaches the wet market the price becomes doubled,” aniya.
“The farm-gate price of broiler right now is playing between P75 to P80 [per kilogram] but based on the monitoring of DTI the price is P150 [per kilogram]. So, where did the 100-percent increase in the price come from?” dagdag pa niya.
Hindi naniniwala ang agriculture chief na ang Tax Reform for Accelaration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law ang dahilan ng pagtaas ng retail prices ng farm commodities.
“So why is the prices increasing? The TRAIN law only has a very minimal effect and the oil prices, if there is an increase it would be less than one percent,” ani Piñol. “Number one reason would be speculations. And the other is the reality in the market that our vendors are dependent on loan sharks.”
Ang DTI ay nagsasagawa ng pilot test sa Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) program nito, isang micro lending program na naglalayong palitan ang ‘5-6’ money lending system sa merkado, ngayong taon. Ang P3 program ay naglalayong mabigyan ang micro, small and medium enterprises ng access sa abot-kayang pautang.
“The P3 is designed to bring down the interest rate at which micro-finance is made available to micro enterprises,” ani DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez.
Ang mga interesadong borrower ay maaaring makahiram ng mula 5,000 para sa start-ups, hanggang P300,000 na may maximum interest rate na 26 percent kada taon, at walang kolateral.
Ang P3 program ay may kabuuang P2-B pondo para sa 2018. JASPER EMMANUEL Y. ARCALAS
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