MANILA, Philippines - Microentrepreneurs across the country can now have access to cheap and easy credit through the government’s “Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso” (P3) program, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.
The agency said the program has been made available nationwide since last Wednesday.
“P3 is intended to help the underprivileged Filipino entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses. With this program, they can access cheap and easy credit without any hassle. After filling out a half-page application and presenting necessary documents, the money can be released within the day,” Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said.
DTI and its micro-financing arm Small Business Corp. (SB Corp) will lead the implementation of the program that seeks to assist microentrepreneurs financially and enable them to grow their businesses.
As the administration’s program to provide affordable financing, the P3 provides microenterprises an alternative source of financing that is easy to access and made available at the cheapest cost.
“After we’ve launched the P3 in Tacloban, Occidental Mindoro, and Sarangani in January 2017, P3 is now going nationwide. We hope this will encourage microentrepreneurs to patronize the government’s program so we can eliminate loan sharks,” Maglaya said.
National conduits and local Micro-financing Institutions (MFIs) have already been accredited by the SB Corp. to assist in distribution of funds to microentrepreneurs.
The national level conduits are Radiowealth Finance Co., Taytay sa Kauswagan Inc., and Mindanao Alliance of Self-Help Societies–Southern Philippines Educational Cooperative Center.
Meanwhile, 18 local MFIs are accredited in Luzon, six in Visayas, and three in Mindanao.
The DTI said a total of P104.9 million have been released to P3 conduits as of the end of May.
The P3 is a P1 billion financing program intended to give micro, small and medium enterprises better access to finance and to reduce their cost of borrowing. The fund, which will give priority to the country’s 30 poorest provinces, is in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to replace the “5-6” money lending system.