UnionBank's continued service even through the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) significantly benefits Filipino farmers who rely heavily on the operations of agricultural firms such as Cargill Philippines. The bank is addressing Cargill's request to allow the timely printing and release of checks at certain bank branches and, to date, 88 checks in total have been printed with 22 released.

With our thrust of customer-centricity, we accommodated the request but limited it to select branches and allowed Cargill to continue its service. This helped their farmers to continue their livelihood despite the challenges. A simple task was able to elevate lives and ensure that the food industry is not disrupted.

– Sabin M. Aboitiz, President and CEO, Aboitiz Group

Cargill Philippines' offices being closed potentially halts disbursement of company funds needed for businesses operations such as manufacturing and distribution of commodities to the food industry, and animal nutrition.

The checkwriter that was to be printed for Cargill was classified as “back-to-client‘, which meant that once printed, the checks are to be sent back to Cargill who will release them to its payees. With their office closed, the company asked UnionBank’s branch in Lipa City instead to release them to various payees.

While it was an additional load to the branch which was on skeletal workforce due to the ECQ, we recognized the urgency of the request owing to the nature of the business.

– Myra Lyn Buntua, Branch Manager, UnionBank-Lipa

Cargill’s payees, which include Copirochi Farms and J. Salonga Trucking, are deeply grateful to UnionBank for going the extra mile amid challenging times.

They are particularly thankful for being able to make collection and manage funds “despite the lockdown”.

Cargill Philippines has operations in animal nutrition, poultry processing, grain and oilseed originating, processing and marketing, and food and beverage ingredients in 17 locations nationwide.