HOUSE Labor and Employment Committee Chairman and Rizal 4th District Rep. Fidel Nograles has praised the Land Bank of the Philippines’ new loan program for pensioners and government workers.
Recently, the state-owned lender launched the PeER (Pension and Emergency Relief) Loan Facility, which extends loans between P20,000 and P100,000 at an interest rate of 10 percent per annum.
LandBank has announced that the loan facility aims to offer accessible financial assistance to pensioners and government employees.
“This loan program will allow our government employees and pensioners to have legal means of borrowing rather than approaching loan sharks,” Nograles said on Saturday.
He also lamented that many government workers, including teachers, are sunk deeper into debt because they resort to loan sharks.
“Bukod sa napakataas na interes, may panghihiya pa’ng ginagawa ang mga lender na ito dahil nagpapadala sila ng text sa mga kakilala ng napautangan nila para maningil (Aside from high interest rates, they are also being shamed through text messages to close relatives and friends to pay up),” Nograles said.
Nograles expects that with the loan facility, fewer government workers and pensioners would fall prey to such abusive lenders.
LandBank said that the loan can be used for emergency expenses, medical needs, and other urgent financial requirements, the government bank added.
There are two options for the loan facility: the Pension Loan, offered to qualified clients with LandBank pension accounts, and the Emergency Relief Loan, for regular government employees with LandBank payroll accounts who have rendered at least one year of service.
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