The Department of Agrarian Reform said on Monday that the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) has established measures to address how agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Eastern Visayas can settle their overdue accounts.

Rosemarie Arreglo from the DAR Eastern Visayas Agri-Credit and Microfinance Office mentioned that the DAR collaborated with the LBP to assist ARBs in managing their substantial credit obligations.

“We found ways on how the ARBs can pay off their loans without losing the opportunity to still acquire loans at low-interest rates to finance their farm operations and other livelihood activities,” Arreglo said.

Arreglo said the ARBs’ delinquent loans stemmed from the various credit assistance programs offered by the DAR, which the ARBs had availed.

In a meeting with the DAR, Restituta Ilagan, manager of the LBP Lending Center, explained to the officers of the DAR Agri-Credit and Microfinance Provincial Office, that ARBs with delinquent loans could request for either extension of maturity of their loans, restructuring, or apply for the conditional condonation of penalty.

She emphasized, however, that the LBP could only grant the request for an extension of maturity if there is a valid reason such as the occurrence of calamities.

“Likewise, conditional condonation of penalties can only be approved if the borrower pays the principal loan in full and must not miss in paying the remaining monthly dues, otherwise, the condonation of the loan penalties will be forfeited,” Ilagan said.

At present, ARBs can avail of loans through the Accessible Loans for Empowered, Resilient and Transformed-Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ALERT-ARBOs) credit program, which is jointly administered by the DAR, Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), and the LBP.

DAR also offers loans through the Accessible Fund for Delivery to ARBs (AFFORD) credit program.

In the same meeting, Rhodelia Austero of the Philippine Crop Insurance Company (PCIC) advised the ARBs to register in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) to be covered of the free insurance up to P300,000.