For Malabang, Lanao del Sur old-timer Alex Mancilla, the installation and inauguration of an Automated Teller Machine in the compound of the Cassava Starch Processing Matling Industrial Commercial Corporation (MICC) last week was not just a realization of a life-long dream but a symbol of a more responsive governance that the country has today.
“I have talked to two, three Presidents about this (establishment of a bank or ATM) but nothing happened until you came,” Mancilla, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MICC told me during the inauguration of the ATM in the MICC area on Dec. 3.
The “You” referred to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and its banking partner, the Development Bank of the Phiklippines, which worked hand in hand with the support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command and the Philippine National Police on the establishment of the ATM, the first in the history of the 100-year-old corporation founded by an American Thomasite Randolp Edmund Spencer.
DBP President Emmanuel Herbosa and top officials of the bank joined MinDA, PNP and AFP officials in the installation and inauguration of the ATMs.
The project started last year when I visited the MICC to check on the prospects of expanding Cassava farming in Lanao del Sur, identified as one of the Mindanao provinces with the highest poverty incidence.
During the visit, Mancilla’s daughter, Ace Mancilla Gaccad, said that one of the major problems of farmers selling their Cassava to the company was the absence of a banking system in Malabang.
Farmers who received checks as payment had to go to either Pagadian City or Cotabato City, about 100 kilometers away, or cash their checks with the Money remittance outlets which charge a fee of 5%.
The older Mancilla said the absence of a bank was an added burden for the farmers as they had to spend at least P1,000 for the long trip or pay as much as P5,000 per P100,000 check to the money remittance outlets.
“PNP opened a branch here in the 1960s but after three days they closed. Land Bank operated for three months then they left,” Alex said.
In the midst of the pandemic, MinDA and DBP conducted an inspection of the area, including two more locations – the towns of Malabang and Balabagan whose mayors appealed that they included in the program as well.
On Dec. 3, less than a year after MinDA learned of the problem, three ATMs were installed – one each for MICC, Malabang and Balabagan.
“Only a Mindanaoan could understand this,” Alex Mancilla said.
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!
#GovernanceIsCommonSense!
#LetsWalkAnExrtraKilometer!
#LetsClimbOneMoreMountain!
#LetsCrossOneMoreRiver!
#LetsChaseOneMoreDream!
(This video was produced by the Beauty and Bounty of Mindanao Media Team of the Mindanao Development Authority.)
https://fb.watch/aP0eURM8Ht/
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