MANILA, 14 December 2002 — Sen. Manuel Villar yesterday urged the government to make its planned OFW Bond more attractive to draw overseas Filipinos away from pyramid scams and games of chance.

Villar, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, also said overseas workers should have exclusive access to the planned bond so as not to be sidelined by foreign and local investors. “These investors have the financial muscle to consume a huge chunk of the attractive offering and may leave OFWs with minimal chances of investing in the OFW bond,” he warned.

As planned, the bonds will consist of $100 million worth of government securities in $100 denominations and Villar said this will be a good deal for OFWs since “investing in government securities is risk-free.”

He urged the Department of Finance (DOF) to offer a higher yield for the retail bonds as compared to the interest rates on other types of bonds to attract more overseas workers to invest in them.

Making the bonds more attractive would dissuade OFWs and their families from participating in pyramid schemes that offer interest rates higher than that prevailing in the market, he said.

Plenty of Filipinos in Hong Kong and in the Middle East were reported to have lost badly in pyramid schemes over the last few years. The propensity of Filipinos to indulge in games of chance like lottery is also seen as one reason many OFWs go home broke.

The bond was to have been issued to OFWs in Japan in time for Migrant Workers Day last June. According to Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho, National Treasurer Sergio Edeza was studying the feasibility of issuing the bonds although no amount had been recommended as of yet.

He explained that the proposed debt issue was “designed to provide investment opportunities at the retail level to the OFWs.”

Meanwhile, Villar filed Senate Bill 1074 seeking to establish an Overseas Workers Bank to augment the OFWs income-generation capability. “It is about time that overseas workers be provided with a bank that they can call their own,” he said. “It is high time that we acknowledge the importance of OFWs with concrete programs.”

Villar had earlier field Senate Bill 1093 which creates an investment fund where OFWs can purchase participatory stocks. He said “it is a sad but common plight to see overseas workers who, after long periods of working away from home, come back to the country with only a few pesos.”