TO STOP “5-6” LOAN SHARKS

LINGAYEN—Provincial government employees will soon have access to a provident fund for their pressing financial requirements, an alternative to the popular “5-6” loan sharks who have been operating and preying on needy workers for almost 50 years.

“The trouble there is they (loan sharks) are trying to earn a living out of the misery and misfortune of other people. That is the worst kind of livelihood,” said Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan who announced the provident fund plan during Monday’s flag raising ceremony.

In an interview, Baraan explained that the initial fund will come partly from the provincial government and the contribution of the various department heads equivalent to their respective one month salary.

When informed of the project, newly reelected Senator Alan Cayetano lauded the timeliness of the governor’s financial support program for the provincial government employees.

“This is the same agenda I have for market vendors and small business entrepreneurs, “5-6” has to go,” Cayetano said.

Baraan said the department heads have signified their willingness to contributing to the start-up provident fund, which will be managed by the employees’ cooperative

Baraan noted that Gov. Amado Espino Jr., at the start of his second term in 2010, already “had begun looking into this seemingly insurmountable problem and of establishing a fund to take the place of loan sharks”.

The provident fund will loan money to employees at an interest rate that is less than what the loan sharks and banks set.

Baraan said the overall purpose is to totally eradicate this “abominable practice (by the loan sharks)” and to establish a provident fund that employees can turn to for such needs as tuition, medical care or daily needs.

At the same time, the governor is looking into organizing livelihood programs to augment the income of government employees.

There are about 4,000 employees under the provincial government, including the casual workers, who will also have access to the fund.

Baraan is optimistic that once this becomes successful, it could be used as a benchmark of other provincial governments across the country.—Eva Visperas

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