Glitch happens, farmers awed by loan data told by bank

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—A computer glitch.

An official of the Land Bank of the Philippines said this was the cause of an erroneous letter sent out to farmers telling them to pay at least P149,000 in loans.

The farmers, told of the LBP clarification, said they felt relieved.

In a letter to Inquirer on Tuesday, Land Bank clarified that the loans had been extended to at least 50 farmers in Barangay (village) Magumbali for palay production in 1996.

The letter said the loans were not as big as stated in the bank’s July 1, 2013 collection letter.

“The first batch of letters sent out to the farmers unfortunately carried an erroneous system-generated amount of P149,941.02 as the loan obligation of some farmers under the Gintong Ani Program,” said Catherine Rowena Villanueva, vice president of Land Bank corporate affairs department, in the letter.

Villanueva said the Land Bank sent another letter which stated the correct amount of the farmers’ obligations.

One of the complaining farmers, Leony Aronce, 53, has to pay only P10,000, Villanueva said.

But Aronce insisted that he did not apply for any loan and is clueless on how his name appeared on the list of indebted farmers. A copy of a promissory note showed that he signed the document.

The barangay secretary, Honorato Alonzo, said Aronce did not obtain a loan as he did not have the means to pay.

“Aronce did not know anything about the loan,” Alonzo said. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon