TARBEMCO pays loan, redeems land title, motor vehicle

By  Adolfo Lopez, Jr. and Euphemio  Masanegra, Jr.

Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, 21 Feb (PIA) -- Showing what a hardworking and resourceful cooperative could achieve, Tambanan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative (TARBEMCO), a rubber-based cooperative in Naga, this province received on February 15, 2012 its land title covering 869 hectares  awarded through the implementation of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, and certificates of  registration of two six-wheeler hauling trucks which were made as collaterals of a loan it availed from the Department of Agrarian Reform – Development Bank of the Philippines (DAR-DBP) Window III Financing Program.

In a short but meaningful ceremony held at the DAR Provincial Office, Ipil Heights, Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer (PARO) Rizzel Villanueva, turned over the land title and the vehicle registration certificates to TARBEMCO through its Board of Directors Chairman Oliver Dolera.

Representatives from the DAR Central Office – Project Development Management Service (PDMS) Maria Theresa  Baul and Rose de la Torre  witnessed and attended the ceremony. Also present  were Naga Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer Flordie B. Bagundol and Atty. Judith P. Patriarca, Legal Division Chief of DAR Zamboanga del Sur, who both played significant roles in the financial assistance granted to TARBEMCO.

TARBEMCO received assistance from the DAR-DBP Window III Financing Program  in the amount of Php 5.4 million way back in 1992 which was used as the initial operating capital on the cooperative’s rubber replanting program. On August 18, 2011, the coop made its final payment amounting to Php. 41,528.04, thus freeing itself from the said loan obligation.

The said event was a glorious milestone in the history of TARBEMCO which, like many rubber-cooperatives, went through a struggle in its journey in rubber farming plantation. Only a few Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) cooperatives throughout the region have paid their loan obligations which they incurred during the previous years when they suffered financial crisis.  

Way back in 1992, TARBEMCO was awarded a total land area of  9,480,618 sq. m., embraced in four (4) land titles issued by the DAR under Voluntary Offer to Sell (VOS) scheme on land acquisition and distribution program. The ARBs of Tambanan then, decided that the bulk of the awarded property would be planted with rubber trees and then registered as Tambanan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (TAMARBA), which later   TARBEMCO.

The venture did not start well as TARBEMCO ARBs encountered a lot of challenges and difficulties in their rubber farming operation during its transition period. Financial crisis, management predicament, and other cooperative ordeals set in as the ARBs were merely rubber plantation workers and not well-equipped with knowledge, experience and expertise as to the actual operation and management of the plantation.

The weekly production income far outweighed the need to maintain the plantation’s operation. The crisis was a big blow on the lives of the ARBs’ families who were dependent on their shares.

Officers of TARBEMCO endeavored to look for alternative means like availing loans even at a very high interest to sustain the operation. Creditors, however, were cautious and hesitant to extend financial assistance due to apparent financial difficulty of the cooperative at that time.

It was then that TARBEMCO grabbed the opportunity given by DAR-DBP Window III Financing Program and made its land title and two motor vehicles’ certificates of registration as collaterals. The contract involved in the said program obligated the cooperative to pay the loan and interest within ten years. However, TARBEMCO could not pay the said obligation within the agreed period due to the crisis it underwent in the early years of its operation. DAR and DBP then granted a restructuring plan of TARBEMCO’s loan, giving them a chance to pay the loan in a much longer period.

Through hard work and perseverance, TARBEMCO gradually paid its obligation and made an over-all payment amounting to Php 9, 000, 000.00, an amount which is not easy to raise. Such accomplishment served as a good example and inspiration to other cooperatives which are still paying their loan obligations on top of their land amortization to the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The said payment was another triumph by TARBEMCO which had already paid its land amortization for the awarded property to  LBP back in May 2011 in the amount of Php 19,334,602.43. Thru determination and hard work, TARBEMCO has really achieved its vision, setting a real paradigm to other ARBs and cooperatives. (DAR-9/AL/EM/PIA-9/CAL)