MANILA, Philippines — Land Bank of the Philippines has granted a P90-million loan to a Maguindanao town for the completion of access roads and purchase of farm equipment to improve market linkages.
Landbank president and CEO Cecilia Borromeo said the state-run bank partnered with the local government of Datu Blah T. Sinsuat in Maguindanao for the construction of new roads to speed up the transport of goods in and out of the municipality.
The road projects are expected to provide fishermen in Datu Blah T. Sinsuat access to supply fish in Cotabato City, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur. At present, at least five out of the 13 barangays in the town are accessible only via sea transport.
As such, the additional roads will benefit nearly 5,000 farmers and over 2,700 fishermen. Likewise, it will give market access for almost 400 agrarian reform beneficiaries in the area.
The local government, for its part, looks to the access roads as a means to encourage investors to consider Datu Blah T. Sinsuat as a potential location for their next projects.
Further, the local government expects the road projects to stimulate tourism activity in the town given that it hosts a variety of beach resorts, including the Lapaken White Sand Beach.
Datu Blah T. Sinsuat Mayor Marshall Sinsuat said the Landbank loan would enable the municipality to inch closer to its goal of becoming the fishing capital of Central Mindanao.
Apart from building access roads, the loan will be used to purchase heavy equipment. Borromeo said the procurement of farming tools would raise the productivity and, in the process, the incomes of farmers in Datu Blah T. Sinsuat.
She said Landbank would sustain its loan program for local governments in need of financing. She added that the bank would make sure that remote areas get the funds that they require to link with government services and public markets.
Landbank has extended P69.51 billion in outstanding loans to local governments across the regions as of January.
During the period, the state-owned bank also released P101.1 billion in infrastructure loans to localities through a program geared toward hastening the recovery of local communities from the pandemic.