Bantayan poultry farms, resorts receive loan fund

CEBU, Philippines - Small Business Corporation (SB Corp.), the financing arm of the Department of Trade and Industry, has released part of the over P100 million loan fund allocation for the egg and tourism industries in Bantayan Island in Cebu.

SB Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Ramon M. Quesada said a chunk of the loan assistance budget has already been released to identified operators of egg farms and resorts in the island, while other applications are still being processed and will soon be released.

Quesada said SB Corp. is working closely with the DTI regional office to assist them in selecting qualified beneficiaries of the direct lending purposely designed for the major industries on the island that had been severely affected by the super typhoon Yolanda in November last year.

The super typhoon wiped out 80 percent of the egg producing farms in Bantayan, which used to produce an average of 1.3 million eggs a day.

Quesada said SB Corporation has already identified at least 50 poultry operators in Bantayan, specifically medium, small and micro players.

The agency, he said is giving as much as P5 million credit access to as low as P700 thousand for qualified applicants.

Aside from the poultry farmers, SB Corp. likewise released assistance to 10 resorts in Bantayan. Other applications are still being processed for release.

SB Corp. is giving one-digit interest rates for the loan funds and transactions are done directly with the beneficiaries.

Aside from focusing its efforts on helping the calamity affected industries, Quesada said the agency is also prioritizing its financing assistance to OTOP (one-town-one-product) identified industries, tourism related businesses, and DTI's shared-service-facility projects around the country.

SB Corp. envisions of becoming the leader in small enterprise development financing and small credit delivery systems nationwide. It has focused on developing an appropriate mix of financing products that are responsive to the needs of the country's small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Over the years, SB Corp. has evolved its product line from generic credit and credit enhancement facilities-catering to both nearly bankable SMEs and small banks in need of liquidity support-to more evolved lines that focused the financing facilities to specific products/sectors. (FREEMAN)