TRC has P700-M collectibles from unpaid loans

MABALACAT, Pampanga ,Philippines  – The Technology Resource Center (TRC) of the Department of Science and Technology has some P700 million in collectibles from unpaid livelihood loans.

TRC director general Dennis Cunanan said he had sent written notices to the delinquent borrowers to coordinate with his office for amicable settlement “outside of litigation.”  

The loans were extended to various beneficiaries in keeping with its mandate to make technology easily accessible to the poor and applicable for business use.

Cunanan said that when he took over as TRC head in 2004, he stopped the granting of livelihood loans in favor of joint livelihood ventures with the private sector.  

He said that TRC’s total assets now amount to some P1.5 billion, P1 billion of which are proceeds from seized assets of negligent borrowers. “We opened ourselves to being of help to them to enable them to pay back their loans. Legal action would only come in as a last resort,” he said.

“We still have P700 million collectibles from those who availed of livelihood loans in the past, and some of these borrowers are nuns from Quezon province,” he said.

Cunanan, however, said that his letters to them were not adversarial and instead offered ways through which the delinquent borrowers could engage in profitable projects with TRC help.