SPEAKER Prospero Nograles said Tuesday that several legislators from the House of Representatives support his proposal to use pork barrel funds and funds from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to extend credit facilities for farmers through rural banks.

Nograles made the announcement as part of the move to resuscitate the country’s dying rural-bank industry and pump-prime food production with the forthcoming tripartite arrangement between the House of Representatives, the Department of Agriculture and the LBP.

Nograles said his proposal, approved in principle by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Landbank president Gilda Pico, will help solve the country’s food-supply problems while rescuing rural banks—many of which have been shut down by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas  for failure to meet the “capital adequacy ratio” requirement.

Under his proposal, lawmakers will give P5 million out of their pork barrel funds as capital support to a rural bank in their respective districts. Landbank will put up a counterpart fund of P15 million to for a total of P20 million in credit facility for farmers in every congressional district nationwide.

SAN FERNANDO, La Union—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday ordered that P4 billion of the P18 billion in proceeds from the value-added tax (VAT) on oil this year be set aside for cash subsidies to poor families, loan funds for the “green” conversion of public-utility vehicles and for scholarship assistance.

SPEAKER Prospero Nograles said Tuesday that several legislators from the House of Representatives support his proposal to use pork barrel funds and funds from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to extend credit facilities for farmers through rural banks.

THE Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has approved the acquisition of 96.38 percent of the total outstanding capital stock of Merchant Savings Loan Association Inc. by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC)

CITYSTATE Savings Bank has found the business of pledging jewelry as loan collateral lucrative and became so good at it other pawnshops began to notice.