STA. MARIA, Ilocos Sur – The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) officially opened its newest Agri-Hub in the municipality of Sta. Maria, Ilocos—the first in the province—on January 16, 2021.
The LANDBANK Sta. Maria Agri-Hub is the 5th to open nationwide, along with four (4) newly opened Agri-Hubs in Calabanga, Camarines Sur; Barotac Viejo, Iloilo; Sual, Pangasinan, and Echague, Isabela.
“The establishment of Agri-Hubs is a testament to LANDBANK’s continued commitment in bringing safe, secure, and convenient financial services to unbanked and underserved rice farming areas in the country. During these challenging times, LANDBANK remains steadfast in working together with the National Government to drive support for the agriculture sector, especially to small farmers and fishers,” said LANDBANK President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo.
Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar, Sta. Maria Mayor Brigido Camarillo Jr., and LANDBANK North Luzon Branches Group Head, First Vice President Ma. Belma Turla led the inauguration rites. They were joined by Sta. Maria Vice Mayor Michael Florendo, DA Assistant Secretary Noel Reyes, Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) Board Member Rosalina Bistoyong, and DA Region 1 Director Nestor Domenden, together with LANDBANK Narvacan Branch Head Marichu Dagdagan and Sta. Maria Agri-Hub Head Rene Domingo.
“A ‘one-stop-shop’ commercial bank is now here in Sta. Maria—providing banking, lending, agrarian services, and processing of agrarian reform bonds and rights. Ang dami pong mga serbisyo na very accessible sa kanayunan. This will make Sta. Maria again elevate itself because as we have commercial banks established, then more economic activities will flourish,” said DA Secretary Dar.
The LANDBANK Sta. Maria Agri-Hub will provide financial and technical services to the Bank’s clients, especially to more than 10,000 farmers and fisherfolk in the municipalities of Sta. Maria, Burgos, and San Esteban. It will also offer LANDBANK’s various digital banking platforms, including the Digital Onboarding System (DOBS) which simplifies the account opening process for new clients to only 10-15 minutes.
“With the establishment of the Sta. Maria Agri-Hub, I am certainly the happiest person in the world right now. As a pledge of support to this Agri-Hub, I went here yesterday to open my bank account. The municipality of Sta. Maria will continue to support LANDBANK,” said Mayor Camarillo.
LANDBANK’s Agri-Hubs are strategically located in the top rice-producing provinces in the country and designed to provide a wide array of services. This includes banking services such as account opening, withdrawals, and check encashments; lending services such as the processing of loan applications; and agrarian services such as processing of Agrarian Reform (AR) bonds and handling of agrarian-related concerns from landowners, bondholders, and AR Beneficiaries (ARBs).
With the opening of LANDBANK Sta. Maria Agri-Hub, the state-run bank now operates 411 branches and 66 branch-lite units nationwide.
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