Solons urge Small Business Corp. to ramp up info dissemination on MSE loan program

Lawmakers from the House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the Small Business Corporation (SBC) to ramp up its information dissemination on its loan program for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

During the virtual meeting of the House Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, SBC group head Frank Gonzaga gave updates on their COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) Program, a P1 billion Enterprise Rehabilitation Financing facility for COVID-affected MSEs.

Under this program, MSEs needing less than P3 million capital may borrow P10,000 up to P200,000, while those that need capital of up to P15 million may loan up to P500,000.

According to Gonzaga, a total of 10,137 potential borrowers have inquired about the program as of June 8.

A total of 7,333 applications have also been processed, of which 287 have already been approved, and 12 have been released, he added.

House panel chair Virgilio Lacson, however, expressed concern over the huge discrepancy between the number of potential borrowers who inquired about the program and the number of loans that have actually been released.

"Ang nakikita kong problema, nandoon yung punto. Kulang sa dissemination campaign and yung manpower niyo is very limited kasi kita naman sa data," he said.

"[Around] 10,000 inquiries, ibig sabihin interesado yan. Pero bumagsak kayo ng loan release niyo, 12 loans. Napakalaki ng discrepancy. So there's something wrong," he added.

Lacson suggested SBC to revisit its program so that more MSEs will be aware of availing loans.

Deputy Speaker Deogracias Savellano made a similar observation.

"I noticed na walang nagkakampanya for this program. So yung mga small enterprise natin, sariling sikap. You have online, but ang problem with online, karamihan ng MSMEs natin na nasa probinsya, lalo na yung matatanda, wala silang online. So sana ay mag-reach out tayo," he added.

Savellano told SBC to work with members of the House so that information on the loan program may reach their respective legislative districts.

Lacson agreed to Savellano's suggestion.

"Make an initiative na yung group head niyo, i-tap na ang mga congressman to inform na may program. Interested naman sila, anything that could help their constituents is a great help to them," Lacson said.

Gonzaga said they would heed to the suggestion of the lawmakers.

"We will be very happy to meet with the membership of the House of Representatives and we will be conducting separate presentations for us to cascade the program," he said. —LDF, GMA News