2003, May 22 (20). Rural Baking in the Philippines, 50th
Anniversary
Litho Offset. Amstar Company, Inc., Perf. 14
Singles, Sheets of 50
6p
Peasant with Rice Harvest - Singles (160,000)
Designer: Edgar T. Fernandez
Design Coordinators: Nena Baetiong Gajudo, Joseph V. Delgado
Layout Artist:
Alfonso V. Divina
Design:
A peasant with a bundle of rice harvest and staring hopefully at the
east with a rural bank structure at background.
First Day Covers: Manila
Rural Banking in the Philippines - 50th Year
The establishment of rural banks in the Philippines traces its
beginnings with the enactment of Republic Act 720 in June 1952. The
Act envisioned the rural banks "to promote and expand the rural
economy in an orderly and effective manner by providing the people
of the rural communities with the means of facilitating and
improving their productive activities and to
encourage cooperatives”.
The enactment was done at the time when the country was reeling from
the devastation of the Second World War and the rural areas, home to
85% of the population then, were truly underdeveloped. The rural
banks, under the rules, regulation and supervision of the Central
Bank of the Philippines, continuously provide credit and other
banking services to farmers, fisherfolks and rural businesspeople to
improve the quality of life in the countryside.
The vision of improving the quality of life in the countryside
rallied men and women with noble interests. From a diminutive number
of 18 rural banks operating in 1953, it has grown to a total of
1,911 banking units spread out allover the country. At present, the
combined resources of the rural and cooperative banking system
amount to P76:6 billion with rural banks dominating the industry
with a combined share of 93.5 percent. Statistically, rural bank
transactions represent only 2.2% of the total banking system, but in
terms of service to people, rural banks serve 70% of the total
banking clients. And as poverty resides in the countryside, rural
banksessentially matter in the lives of the poor.
Today in celebration of the 50th anniversary of rural banking, the
rural banks, united under the Rural Bankers' Association of the
Philippines are reiterating their commitment as intermediaries of
change in the countryside to help build local economies.