DOF chief inaugurates Landbank’s Davao corporate hub

DAVAO City—finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III led the inauguration ceremonies last Friday for the new corporate center of the Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) in this city, citing the bank for a milestone of achievements.

“This will be my last engagement as Secretary of Finance and Chairman of Landbank,” Dominguez said. “[And] I am happy that this happens in my hometown.”

The corporate center would expand the reach of the bank’s services as a one-stop-shop for as many as 30,000 clients in southern and eastern Mindanao.

Landbank’s Davao Corporate Center is the biggest of the corporate offices outside the National Capital Region (NCR).

“I see this corporate center as Landbank ’s investment in one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. With the infrastructure build-up in the region and the great potential the area holds, rapid growth will transpire here in the next few years,” Dominguez said.

He cited the bank’s performance in the last six years as a period of growth, innovation and expansion for the institution.

Built an institution

DOMINGUEZ noted the role of Executive Vice President Liduvino S. Geron, “Without Geron, we wouldn’t have had the merger of UCPB [United Coconut Planters Bank.”

He also expressed gratitudes to Landbank CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo “and the men and women of Landbank during the last six years of the Duterte administration.”

“They built a strong banking institution that serves the goals of national development,” Dominguez said.

Compared with all other administrations, he said it was during the Duterte presidency that the largest amount of capital was infused into Landbank.

From P88.7 billion in capital in 2016, this has since grown to P215.8 billion on the outgoing President’s watch, “making it the second-largest universal bank in the country,” the outgoing DOF chief said.

Dominguez said Landbank ’s capital “is being prudently managed and is used to finance projects that are most needed by the country, not just in the agriculture sector.”

Landbank has become the biggest lender to the local government units and has expanded to serve other sectors such as healthcare, education, power generation and distribution, water, transportation and housing, according to Dominguez.

UCPB merger

IT was also during the Duterte administration that Landbank acquired and merged with the UCPB “to provide more robust support to the country’s agriculture sector.”

The merger further increased Landbank’s reach with its fullfledged branches growing from 418 to 607 nationwide.

Teaming up with the Philippine Statistics Authority, Landbank “cleared the way for eight million formerly unbanked national ID registrants to be part of the formal banking system.”

On top of performing its banking functions, Landbank was also the distribution arm of cash grants for 10 million beneficiaries of the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer and Unconditional Cash Transfer programs, Dominguez said.

Most evident during the pandemic, Landbank’s performed an indispensable role “of serving as a conduit for delivering relief assistance to millions of Filipinos in the most vulnerable sectors,” Dominguez added.

Landbank also rolled out special lending programs designed to assist LGUS, small and medium enterprises, the transport and education sectors, as well as parents of students at the height of this public health emergency.

Dominguez said Landbank was also instrumental in delivering the President’s promise of establishing a bank exclusively for Filipinos based abroad with its establishment of the Overseas Filipino Bank (Ofbank), which is officially the first branchless digital-only bank in the country.

The Ofbank now serves overseas Filipinos in 119 countries.