QC microfinance program gets new conduit

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has signed a memorandum of agreement allowing the participation of another microfinance establishment as a conduit in the city’s Puhunang Pangkaunlaran ng Sikap Buhay program.

The tie-up with the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) brings to five the number of conduits for Sikap Buhay loans. CCT president Ruth Callanta represented the new conduit during the signing ceremony at the City Hall.

District 2 Councilor Ramon Medalla and 12 other councilors introduced the City Council resolution that authorized Belmonte to sign the agreement.

Medalla is acknowledged as the architect of the Sikap Buhay program, being the principal author of the resolution that authorized Belmonte to implement the program in 2002.

The CCT is among the biggest and most successful microfinance establishments in Quezon City, according to La Rainne Abad Sarmiento, head of the city’s Sikap Buhay and Cooperative Center. To date, the CCT has 16 branches serving about 14,000 residents of the city.

The CCT, which also operates in several provinces in Luzon and the Visayas, uses both the Grameen-style group collection – group accountability – and individual systems of lending scheme.

The other four conduits are the ASA Foundation, Cooperative Rural Bank of Bulacan (CRBB), Novaliches Development Cooperative (NOVADECI) and EuroCredit.

CRBB is the biggest of the conduits in terms of having released the bulk of Sikap Buhay loans and having the biggest share of the program’s clients or member-beneficiaries.

The Sikap Buhay program has provided a total of P281.8 million in loans to about 20,000 beneficiaries since 2002.