UCPB continues to prove critics wrong

MANILA, Philippines - When the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed last Jan. 24 the Sandiganbayan’s decision awarding to the government 24 percent of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) shares that were bought with coconut levy funds, the affirmation also clearly required the government to use the shares only for the benefit of the farmers and the coconut industry.

According to the decision, six Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) corporations, their 14 holding firms, and 33.1 million SMC shares were “declared owned by the government to be used only for the benefit of all coconut farmers and for the development of the coconut industry, and ordered re-conveyed to the government.”

This is a historical milestone to be celebrated, as the claims for the coco-levy fund by millions of coconut farmers and industry stakeholders languished in courts for more than two and a half decades. Instead, NGOs and radical farmer activists mounted a obfuscated campaign of recycled stories demonizing entities and personalities – both past and present – that were merely associated with corporate entities co-owned by the fund. And for what end remains anyone guess.

Most socio-political analysts, however, believe it’s the enormity of the coco-levy fund – currently estimated at some P70 billion – that may “plausibly” be a motivating factor.

United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), once the country’s largest bank, is one of those entities unwittingly maligned and demonized by the interest groups that seem to forget the coco-levy fund also includes shares and thereby, part ownership in UCPB.

“It is not my relationship with one person but my being a professional banker that got me here and I want to insulate the bank from the political and legal disturbances caused by debate and contentions over its ownership,” UCPB president Jeronimo Kilayko explained.

For the past 25 years or so the management and the board of the bank changed with the entry of every new administration. And the frequent changes in the bank’s board and management meant inconsistent policies.

“We have to maximize our earning capabilities, while at the same time continue to clean our books,” Kilayko said.

On the question of behest loans, the bank has cleaned its vaults of bad debts which reached P30 billion, which it acquired from the period prior to 1986. Majority of the bad debts were then sold to special purpose vehicles (SPAVs) or settled.

It was during the years 1988 to 2002 when this situation came about, leading to the process of rehabilitating the bank. It was during this period that Kilayko served as bank chairman and chief executive officer, with Lorenzo Tan as president and chief operating officer.

“We are optimistic that we can sustain UCPB’s growth momentum for the past year given our associates’ commitment to building a bigger and stronger financial institution and our clients’ loyalty to the UCPB brand,” Kilayko said.

Welfare of farmers, dev’t of the industry

Kilayko has expressed concern over what he describes as a serious dwindling in the number of standing coconut trees in the country.

He has vowed to work with coconut farmers through a replanting program, and discussions with coconut farmers sitting in the bank’s board of directors for a coconut development program have already started.

Aside from the financial needs of the coconut farmers, the bank’s Coconut Farmers Program Development Committee will draw up a replanting program, a program to train farmers on business and accounting practices, and provide allied and non-allied business needs of the farmers and their beneficiaries.

In line with UCPB’s mandate to help Filipino coconut farmers, UCPB-CIIF Foundation provides training to coconut farmers to enhance their livelihood and established coconut nurseries as source of good-planting materials.

To provide coconut farmers easy access to good planting materials to replace old unproductive coconut trees or expand hectarage for coconut, UCPB-CIIF Foundation embarked on the coconut nursery project.

The Foundation partnered with coconut farmer cooperatives in Quezon, Masbate, Camarines Norte, Iloilo, Agusan Sur and Surigao Sur and established the coconut nurseries in their area.

With the assistance of the Philippine Coconut Authority, good source of seednuts free from disease were identified. 1,050 coconut farmers were able to access around 105,000 good quality coconut seedlings at cost instead of paying higher price from commercial nurseries.

Launched in 2009, “Tara Na at Mag-Organic Farming” is designed to train farmers in organic or natural farming techniques which are cost-effective.

UCPB-CIIF Foundation tapped its pool of scholars who were trained on natural and organic farming techniques in Don Bosco Training Centers in Legaspi City, Iloilo, and Davao Oriental.

A recent UCPB-CIIF Foundation update boasts of some 756 college and vocational graduates since the CocoFoundation scholarship program was launched in 2004.

The CocoFoundation was established to uplift the economic condition of coconut farming families. To date, a total of 1,425 children of coconut farmers in 52 provinces have been awarded the college and vocational technology scholarship grants.

The school year just past produced a scholar who graduated summa cum laude under the foundation’s continuing education financial assistance program and has since assumed a financial risk management position in UCPB.

Henzel Mangansay Ymbol, the daughter of a coconut farmer from Siquijor, received a four-year scholarship grant from the UCPB-CIIF foundation and finished BS Mathematics summa cum laude at the Negros Oriental State University in Dumaguete.