ADDITIONAL FUNDING. Signing the loan agreement between Sun Savings Bank and Landbank of the Philippines (Landbank) at the Casino Español de Cebu in Cebu City, Friday, May 27, 2022, are (seated from left) Augusto Gonzalez, executive vice president and treasurer, Sun Savings Bank; Francisco Dizon, president and chief executive officer, Sun Savings Bank; Elsie Fe Tagupa, senior vice president and head of Visayas lending group, Landbank; Allan Bisnar, vice president and head, Cebu South Lending Center, Landbank. / EARL PADRONIA

SUN Savings Bank inked an additional P100 million loan facility with the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) to assist public school teachers in Cebu Province to rebuild and repair their homes devastated by Typhoon Odette and fund their children's college education.

The loan signing ceremony between Sun Savings Bank and Landbank was held at the Casino Español de Cebu in Cebu City, Friday, May 27, 2022.

Present in the event were Sun Savings president and chief executive officer Francisco Dizon, Sun Savings executive vice president and treasurer Augusto Gonzalez, Landbank senior vice president and head of Visayas lending group Elsie Fe Tagupa and Landbank vice president and head of Cebu South Lending Center Allan Bisnar.

"The reason we borrow from Landbank is to continue with our effort to assist teachers in rebuilding their homes that were damaged by (typhoon) Odette," Dizon said.

"It's also going to be the start of another school year and a good number of teachers have children who are going to college... So we anticipate that the teachers will be needing funds again for the college tuition expenses of their children."

Dizon urged the public school teachers to avail themselves of new, additional loans, especially since the Department of Education (DepEd) has extended the loan re-payment terms for teachers to as long as five years from the previous three-year timeline.

He added that the teachers can now borrow more funds without impacting negatively their income after the DepEd had approved of the extended five-year repayment scheme of the teachers' loans.

A teacher can apply for a new, additional loan amounting up to P300,000 and still have a net take home pay of P5,000, as required by the DepEd.

Payment of the money borrowed will be deducted by the DepEd from the teachers' payslips through the department's automatic payroll deduction system (APDS) where Sun Savings Bank has been one of the accredited banks for over 10 years.

"We want to assist the teachers with their urgent financing requirements now that the DepEd has allowed us to lend for a longer term of five years, whereas before, we were limited to three years," Dizon said.

Last March, Sun Savings started offering the bigger loan amount and five year term, being one of the frontrunners in serving this particular market segment.

Augusto Gonzalez, Sun Savings Bank treasurer, said the bank will be paying its loan to Landbank on a quarterly installment basis for up to five years.

Gonzalez added that with the additional P100 million loan granted by Landbank, the total amount of its credit facility to Sun Savings has now increased to P300 million. This is in recognition of the strong financial position and creditworthiness of Sun Savings Bank.

Since March 1, Sun Savings has been able to lend to 3,800 teacher-borrowers in Cebu Province under the new five year term. With this development, the bank has recently emerged as the third-largest lender among banks, to public school teachers in Cebu. (EHP)