Yap to gov’t agencies: Help small businesses recover from pandemic

Bohol Governor Arthur Yap during the Senate virtual meeting on Friday. | Photo grabbed from the Facebook page of Art Yap

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – Bohol Governor Arthur Yap is planning to avail of a loan from government banks and pass on the proceeds of the loan “to small businesses who need the working capital” to recover from the ill effects of the pandemic.

In a Facebook post on Friday, May 29, 2020, Yap said that he is now negotiating for a “zero-percent” or “up to one-percent-interest loan” with a grace period of two years with the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines. This means that payment of the loan’s amortization will start on the third year yet.

At the same time, he is also asking the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas “to allow all debtors to exercise the option of restructuring their loans without penalties or surcharges that may be imposed against them for so choosing to restructure their loans.”

“This is in consideration that the borrowers at this time of the pandemic could operate in a limited capacity or have stopped operation because of the preventive measures implemented all over the Philippines to limit the human interaction to contain the infection of Covid 19,” he said.

Yap discussed the two points which he said could “bring business back to action” in a Senate virtual meeting which he joined on Friday.

The Bohol governor said that local businesses need the government’s support in their recovery from the coronavirus disease pandemic.

He is especially asking BSP to relax its rules during the pandemic “so confidence in business would be regained.”

Yap said that as a policy, BSP imposes penalties on restructured loans because these are considered as failed loans.