THE Provincial Government of Samar has yet to submit some requirements prior to the tranche-by-tranche disbursement of its P800-million loan, but the loan has been approved, an official of the Land Bank of the Philippines said.
The state-owned bank has approved the loan application on Oct. 12, according to Samar Land Bank Lending Center head Buenaventura Leyva.
“The first tranche will be released upon completion of necessary requirements. The local government is still complying pre-release requirements. It is no longer within our control.”
The Land Bank official responded to media queries after some groups in the province protested the bank loan for fear that it will be used for politics.
The pre-disbursement requirements have been set by the bank and the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilpinas.
The pace of loan disbursement heavily relies on the speed of implementation of the project listed on the local government’s spending plan, according to Leyva.
The official said that Samar provincial government is qualified to secure loan per bank’s assessment and scrutiny of the Bureau of Local Government Finance.
The P800-million loan request is not even half of the provincial government’s P2.4-billion borrowing capacity, he said.
“We are not exposing a certain amount if it is not within the borrowing capacity of local government,” Leyva added. “Our appraisal department will also monitor the utilization of the loan.”