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Banking Woes in the Philippines
The Philippines is indeed beset with a myriad of banking woes. Even the public lending sector, consisting of Government Owned Financial Institutions like Land Bank of the Philippines, the Quedan Corporation, Export-Import Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines have very stringent policies but favor the top, most moneyed entrepreneurs in this country.
Quedan Corp. The Quedan Corp. charges enormous interest rates as well as horrific penalties from small time borrowers – most of them in the rural areas. A loan release of less than One Million Pesos, in case of minor defaults together with interests, the borrower must return at least Three Million Pesos.
Effectively this means this government lending agency stands to gain a usurious 200 percent interest on the loan. Amazing, if this is not the Philippines. Quedan does not upstage the equally criminal Bumbay (local term for mostly illegally staying foreigners from India) who bleed small scale and medium scale entrepreneurs by charging them a stupendous 20% per 30-45 days credit or a total of 180% – 240% per annum.
Shark Financing – An Alternate Hell: Umbrella Wielding Indians. The Bumbays, have been extra-legally doing business in the Philippines without registering their lending enterprise and thrive in the business because the unconscionable banking industry does not take care of local borrowers for the furtherance of private commercial and industrial activities. Instead, the industry promotes short term and low-budget lending for consumption purposes, an anathema to finance managerial experts.
Such practice buries the average Filipino borrower in debt until he or she is dead, so the loans can be merely written off as bad debts. At least in the company records, the small credit limit of 20,000 that was maxxed will reflect a debt of no less than 500,000 to 1,000,000 in a few years as long as the fugitive borrower keeps on reneging to pay the debt. This practice is a hell of contribution to make to a country that has hosted the banking industry and from which taxes the industry has greedily enriched itself with no compunction.
“There is an exception. You can always borrow big amounts from banks but you have to have pedigree. If you don’t have pedigree forget about borrowing big even from the biggest banks. They won’t even look at your loan application. How stupid is that?”
Except for Maybank Philippines, very few banks through their run-of-the-mill branch managers, mid-level officers and workers will even offer you water, juice or coffee. How much more a big loan?
Among the brainless, idiotic and impractical policies of banks is imposing quota performance on their bank managers. Whereas there is very meager creativeness among many top bank management officials in promoting their respective bank product brands, to attract clientele, this strict policy of quota is ruthlessly rammed upon the throats of the helpless bank managers and all the bank workers below these managers.
This leads to the great inadequacy of the banking system in pump priming of the economy through the promotion of brisk and dynamic exchanges between and among local business as well as with the rest of the world.
Such a noteworthy posture could be done by not limiting the distribution of the bulk of bank investments, credit, to billionaires like Andrew Tan, Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, Jaime Ayala, Eduardo Cojuangco, Eugenio Lopez, Ramon Ang, Washington SyCip, John Gokongwei, or big time criminal thieves like Janet Lim Napoles, Zaldy Co, jueteng collectors Yolanda Ricafort, Tony Santos, notorious drug dealers like the Lim clan of Malabon-Navotas of the Chinese Triad, Li Lan Yan aka Jackson Dy, Li Tan Hua, Hanson Young (ordered killed by his Chinese Godfather Mr. Stephen Hui while in police detention) among many other dregs of society.
Preferred clients therefore are billionaires, criminals, jueteng collectors, drug lords – not necessarily in that order. Certainly, there are Senators, Senate fixers, Congressmen, Batasan complex arrangers, Governors and their Vice, Mayors and Vice, Board Members, Barangay Chairmen and Boards, appointed officials among a few other money grubbing species.
As the website www.qualitychange.org declares:
Policy regime change is needed in the business and especially in the finance sector. The old paradigm of the Philippines and selected vassal type states with supplier economies, must be revolutionized. This will depend mostly on the act of the young, emerging, up-and-coming captains of industry.
The history of Philippine finance has been that of subservience and excessive docility towards superior super powers or stronger industrial economies. This cannot be the case any longer. Even with the excursion of individuals or groups like Enrique Razon to foreign frontiers, Ayala and other entrepreneurs – Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. Lucio Tan, Henry Sy, John Gokongwei to foreign enterprise destinations or missionary ports such as New Zealand, Australia, China, Latin America, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, among many others, much has to be repaired in the Philippines. Click here for the rest of this article.
Leandro Mendoza’s coup d’ etat!
DOTC’s gain, Boncodin’s loss
Now that Sec. Mendoza is working towards the operationalization of the National Transport Safety Board Philippine version (calling on Shawn O’Donnell and company!!! calling on the Asian Development Bank !!! you gave the first glimmer of hope when you pledged support for the privatization of the air traffic control of the Republic of the Philippines in 1995!!!), the secretary is The Man! At least for those of us that are lowly bloggers, blogging feverishly about the safety of all our brethren in air, sea and on land. Pinoy or foreigner, young and old, male or female, alike. More on this post here…