Daza bats for 1-year transition for Quedancor

The government should put in place a transition period of at least a year if the proposal to deactivate Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor) would be implemented, Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza said.

Daza, vice chairman of the House appropriations committee, said the government should give Quedancor a transition period to reorganize and put in place changes that would improve its operations.

“My initial proposal is a transition period of at least a year,” he told The Star.

The appropriations committee has approved a P475-million budget for Quedancor which would be used to bail out the agency and settle its obligations to its creditors.

Daza said the one year transition period would be used to reorganize Quedancor while economic managers draw up a plan for the agency — on whether this would be allowed to continue operating or be deactivated.

The lawmaker said Quedancor’s workforce of 1,200 employees should be cut into half to save on costs, but added that all employees “should be dealt with fairly.”

Quedancor, which is mandated to accelerate the flow of credit to the countryside, has not been doing an effective job and has been losing money because of mismanagement.

In 2007, Quedancor had a net loss of P286 million and in 2006, a net loss of P23 million.

Economic managers want to deactivate Quedancor but the government has yet to make a final decision on the matter.

Quedancor officials and employees are opposed to the proposed deactivation. Instead, the agency wants a P3.5- billion bail out package which officials said would make Quedancor sustainable.

Daza said if the government decides to continue the operations of Quedancor, it should work out a plan to make it more efficient.

On the other hand, he said that if Quedancor would be deactivated, the government should put in place an agency that would continue its mandate.

“If we are going to deactivate it, Congress wants to create another agency that would continue the Constitutional mandate of Quedancor,” Daza said.