Cayetano urges fisherfolk: Organize own micro-financing
STOP “5-6” FOR SURVIVAL
SENATOR Alan Cayetano urges market vendors in Dagupan to organize and adopt micro-financing project as an alternative to the usurious “5-6” practice of loan sharks in public markets.
Cayetano, the senate majority floor leader, was in Dagupan on December 15 to fulfill his pledge to assist the fisher folks in their livelihood.
He turned over a P150,000 check to the Dagupan Ulupan na Sumisigay Inc. headed by Ronnie Cayabyab as initial fund for a lending program for the benefit of its members.
He told Cayabyab and his group, including Barangay 1 Chairman Herminigildo Rosal and Dr. Edwin Aguirre, representative of Mayor Belen Fernandez, that it is possible to end the operations of loan sharks who prey on small vendors, tricycle drivers and other traders in the markets.
He cited a multi-purpose cooperative in La Trinidad, Benguet which now has a P180 million capital in the bank after starting with meager resources.
Before coming to Dagupan, Cayetano was in La Trinidad where he handed a similar grant of P150,000 to another cooperative for lending to members who need additional capital for their small-scale business in the market.
Cayetano asked Cayabyab to lead his group in establishing the operating guidelines and rules for lending to its members to ensure the viability of micro-financing.
The senator expressed confidence that Ulupan will be successful and its expansion will be the basis for a possible bigger grant next year.
Cayetano said the grants he is distributing are sourced from a P2.5 million fund put together by his friends who want to help spur micro-financing in the countryside.
The same micro-finance facility was extended by this group through Cayetano to vendors in Pretel Market in Tondo, Manila and in the Nepa Q Mart in Quezon City.
The senator said that now that the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) has been scrapped, “we just have to be creative, we just have to appeal to the private sector and we just have to look for foreign funding in order to deliver services needed by our people.”
Vendors at the market explained that they resort to borrowing from “5-6” operators because they have no other means to make ends meet and because borrowing from legitimate financial institutions is a difficult process.
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