As budget deliberations begin, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan met with Land Bank of the Philippines President and CEO Lynette Ortiz and Chief of Staff Atty. Nikkolas Tolentino to tackle the critical issues facing Filipino farmers.
While Landbank, the government-owned bank, provides loans and lending programs to local government units (LGUs) and farmers, Pangilinan emphasized that the challenges go beyond access to credit. Farmers continue to face hurdles in navigating financial terms, forms, and processes—pushing many to rely on middlemen despite losing income in the process.
“The middlemen to traders are able to provide that service which the banks are not able to do. They still borrow whether or not it’s detrimental to them. It doesn’t really matter to them, because of course they need to borrow because they need to stay in the game in producing,” Pangilinan said.
The senator, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, has long pushed for the re-nationalization of agricultural extension services to strengthen government delivery of critical support to farmers and fisherfolk.
Landbank, for its part, has been capacitating farmers through education programs and cooperative development. Pangilinan stressed, however, that sustainability requires more than access to credit.
“Unless your farmers are organized, and they have economies of scale, and they have financial literacy because they are organized, capacitated, the resources thrown at them will not make it sustainable,” Pangilinan underscored.
Landbank officials echoed his call, noting that financial education is essential to avoid mismanagement and ensure proper systems within cooperatives.
“That’s why it’s a hand-holding exercise,” Pangilinan added.
Drawing from his experience as former Food Security Czar under the Aquino administration, Pangilinan recalled how he brought down food prices and achieved the lowest nationwide inflation in 20 years by putting key interventions in place.
“Because rice is really the driver of whether upwards or downwards. So you manage rice, you manage inflation,” he said, urging Landbank to take a more active role. “You just have to pound the bureaucracy into making it happen.”
Moving forward, Pangilinan recommended identifying model farmer-beneficiaries and developing best-practice templates that both the Senate and Landbank can use to help struggling farmers.
“In the supply chain the weakest link is the farmer and therefore theoretically the most resources or the most support should be to the weakest link,” Pangilinan said.