THE OLD SYSTEM THAT REFUSED TO DISAPPEAR

A Six-Part Documentary on Money in Northern Iloilo
By Mark Morales | Estancia Times Field Documentary

For generations, money has moved through Northern Iloilo not only through banks, but through relationships. This series follows that money from 4 a.m. at the fish port to the phone in a vendor's hand.

PART 1: The Old System That Refused to Disappear

Early morning in Northern Iloilo begins before light.

At the Estancia Fish Port Bagsakan, it is 4:12. Ice steams in the dark. A bangka bumps the concrete landing and men in rubber boots lift tubs of bangus still silver from the sea. Buyers lean in with flashlights, not to see the fish better, but to count quickly. The first price is set before the sun is up.

A few streets away, at the New Public Market, a vendor strikes a match. The gas lamp catches and throws yellow light across banana leaves. She arranges her tumpok one by one, hands moving from habit. Her capital for the day is already in the ice under the fish, and in the small bills folded in her apron pocket.

On the poblacion road, a driver kickstarts a Rusi motorcycle. The engine coughs, catches, settles into an idle. He checks his side mirror, not for traffic, but for passengers who are not there yet.

And through the narrow lanes between stalls, a collector begins his daily route. He carries no briefcase. Only a small notebook with names written in ballpen, and a plastic envelope that grows heavier as the morning moves.

"For generations, money has moved through Northern Iloilo not only through banks, but through relationships."

The system has a name everyone knows. 5–6. Locally, Bombay. It existed long before GCash, before Paleng-QR, before cooperatives opened microfinance windows.

It survived for a simple reason. It was built around the way people here actually earn.

"Kon wala ka kuwarta subong nga adlaw, pwede ka ka-pass. Buwas na lang niya tingbon."
— Manang Kora, fish vendor, Estancia

PART 2: Why Informal Finance Still Wins

Estancia is not a town without banks. On Cudilla Avenue is the Land Bank of the Philippines Estancia Branch. In Barangay Tabuan are CARD Bank Estancia 1 and Estancia 2. There is a BPI kiosk in Tabu-an, and BankCom lists a service point on Clement Street. The ESTANCIA ILOILO FARMERS COOP. MRKTG. ASSN. INC. is SEC-registered.

The formal system is present. The question is whether it is present at the right hour.

Speed

At 4:50 a.m. in Carles, a vendor needs cash for three banyeras. The collector sends money by 5:10. A bank opens at 8.

Trust

The collector knows who pays daily, who missed because of habagat, who is good for it tomorrow. Formal finance knows you through documents.

Daily Income Reality

Banks are designed around monthly payroll. Northern Iloilo runs on catch, weather, and market day.

"Bisan gamay lang akon ginabayad, basta sige-sige, okay na sa Bombay nga kolektor."
— Totong, driver

PART 3: The Rise of Cooperatives and Microfinance

We walked into the offices that open at 8.

At CARD Bank Tabuan, staff explain center meetings and progressive loans. At Landbank Estancia, officers describe the LANDBANKasama program that partners with cooperatives to reach places with limited access. At the Farmers Coop, leaders talk about advances against palay deliveries.

They all answer the same question honestly: "Can formal finance become as accessible as informal finance?" Their answer: we are trying.

History matters here. Opportunity Kauswagan Bank, OK Bank, once had a branch at Ground Floor, Loveres Building, Barangay Botongan, Estancia. PDIC closed it in December 2021. For borrowers who lived through that, "formal" does not always mean "stable."

PART 4: The Digital Money Revolution

The next chapter pings.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas launched Paleng-QR Ph Plus in Iloilo to promote digital payments via QR codes in public markets and vehicles. Iloilo Province launched it on 22 September 2025. In Iloilo City, the Terminal Market went live on Nov. 23, 2023, and more than 1,625 vendors and 1,870 tricycle drivers now accept digital payments. Landbank equipped vendors with the QR technology.

In Estancia market, a vendor now takes GCash at 6 a.m., sends payment to her supplier at 6:15, and at 7 a.m. still texts her collector for emergency capital.

The app handles the sale. The person still handles the risk.

Nationally, 50% of Filipino adults had formal financial accounts in 2025, down from 56% in 2021, while 57.4% of retail transactions were cashless. The gap is where Northern Iloilo lives.

"Basta nami ka lang magbayad sa Bombay, sila pa ang ga-offer sang mas daku nga kapital."
— Tyay Erma, market vendor

PART 5: The Next Generation of Borrowers

The 23-year-old online fish seller in Estancia takes orders on Facebook Live and gets paid by GCash. The 24-year-old habal driver in Carles cashes out fares at the sari-sari store. The 21-year-old market daughter keeps two ledgers: her mother's notebook and her phone.

They are not choosing between old and new. They are using both.

Ask them what matters most and they say: access first, then cost, then formality. They want the app's speed and the collector's flexibility to say "buwas lang."

Data supports their reality. The World Bank notes 57.1% of women and 46.5% of rural residents lack formal financial accounts. A 2023 survey found 57% have existing formal loans, but personal loans remain the most popular because they are accessible.

PART 6: The Possible Future

Three futures are visible from Estancia port.

1. Informal lending declines. Banks and apps learn the 4 a.m. schedule. CARD and Landbank release same-day loans based on QR sales history.

2. Informal lending survives. The system endures because it bends. It shows up before sunrise, remembers your name, and allows a pass.

3. They coexist. This is already happening. Formal finance funds the freezer and the boat. Digital apps fund the top-up. The collector funds the emergency at 5 a.m.

The future will not be decided by interest rates alone. It will be decided by who learns the other's strength first.

Walk the market at 5 a.m. next week and you will see it already. A vendor will take a QR payment with one hand, and with the other, fold bills into a plastic envelope for the man with the notebook.

Two systems. One morning. Both moving money the only way Northern Iloilo has ever trusted: person to person, whether the person is on the other side of the stall, or on the other side of the phone.