Gov. Arthur Yap writes to President Duterte requesting the latter to direct the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to restructure the loans of the transport sector players without the latter getting penalized.
Yap took the opportunity to write to Duterte as a way to help the transport sector which has been one of the worst hit industries in the province due to the pandemic.
The governor released this information during a press conference on Monday, June 22, at the New Capitol building. He said that transport operators are facing a huge problem as they need to pay the amortization of their loans yet their units are not earning any income because there are no tourists here in Bohol.
The governor sent a request to the President for the latter to issue a directive to the BSP and other agencies to ask banks to restructure loans taken out by transport operators. Restructuring loans, however, is bad news for the loan borrowers, the governor said. If a loan is restructured, it is considered as a failed loan, and there are penalties levied against the bank by the BSP and these charges will be passed on to the transport sector borrowers, Yap further explained.
In view of this, Yap proposes an extension of collection moratorium for at least a year starting a the time the province was placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Moreover, Yap said, his proposals for banks to extend the collection moratorium received support from the Regional Development Council (RDC) through a resolution. The same proposal also got the support of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP).
The governor said that transport operators have taken out loans from various banks and used the proceeds to invest in transport units. The transport sector is one of the promising sectors in the tourism industry before the pandemic hit Bohol. With the pandemic, there are no more foreign tourists that patronize these transport services, the governor said during the presscon.
The “Bayanihan To Heal As One Act” gave business owners two months as a grace period to settle loans, but there is no guarantee that business will come back after the grace period.
The governor said that if the operators in the transport sector will be forced to pay for their loans, these business owners will go bankrupt. There is a need to realize business will not come back immediately and it will take a year before the operators in the transport sector will regain the ability to pay the loan amortization, the governor explained during the press conference.