QUEDANCOR De-Activation: Are they deserving?

Word came out that the country’s premiere credit and guarantee company, the Quedan & Rural Credit Guarantee Corporation (QUEDANCOR), has been recommended by the economic managers of this administration for de-activation.

The Quedan Guarantee Fund Board (Quedan Board), predecessor of the QUEDANCOR, was established in 1978, during the peak of the Masagana 99 program of the Marcos government, to help farmers cope with the lowering prices of palay brought by bumper harvests and over-supply of rice. It was mandated to provide guarantee for bank loans of farmers with only palay stocks for collateral. The office has successfully provided the farmers a breather for their financial woes. Since then the corporation has evolve to where it is now, providing not only guarantee but extending direct credit to palay and other agricultural commodity producers and sellers.

It was only recently that the corporation experienced losses which could have been brought by mismanagement or misjudgement by its handlers. The corporation borrowed huge amounts and expanded its network in an attempt to extend its services to more beneficiaries. Today, interest and overhead expenditures are eating up its funds.

Recently a subject of legislative investigations due to issues from its programs and findings by COA audits

Whatever happened to the investigations...graft? ...channeling of funds? ... mismanagement? And how about the COA Reports? Isn’t there anybody interested in pursuing these issues? Will killing the Corporation that provided credit at the reach of our deprived agri-workers for the past 30 years answer these concerns?

As our Asian neighbors gives value to its agriculture industry by providing subsidy. Our government , aside from the seed capital provided during the corporation’s inception, has not provided any additional funds to QUEDANCOR. The office pursued its mandate for three decades. 30 years of operation which could very well justify its efficiency. And yet, the government chooses to turn off the switch to its operation at a tiny instance.

De-activating QUEDANCOR will leave millions of its beneficiaries, direct or indirect, hanging on a blank wall. It will be creating vacuum on our struggling agriculture industry craving for financial assistance.

De-activating QUEDNACOR could also result to the displacement of more than a thousand of its manpower. Government could be handing down sentence to the wrong guy, the lowly workers who were simply mismanaged for a short period or just following orders.

If ever this plan of de-activation materializes. who’s at a disadvantage? The managers who have at least enjoyed their stint with fat pay checks and/or allowances? or the lowly workers who could barely make ends meet? Who among them enjoyed the big chunks of benefits, privileges and probably popularity. And how about accountability? Who will be pointed as answerable for the predicament the corporation got into?

Who are the people who decided the fate of this corporation or at least are in the know or was supposed to be aware of what was happening to it but did not lift a finger to arrest the circumstances?

Looking at the numbers, the ranks and the beneficiaries of this humble corporation has it! But they seem to be unconvincing and powerless. Something must be missing. Or are they also mishandling the bid for continuance?

Do they deserve to be de-activated?