MANILA, 26 August 2003 — Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) led by Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) board member Miguel Bolos lauded Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. for promoting the preferential selling of shares of stocks to overseas Filipinos around the world.
Bolos, a 23-year OFW based in Riyadh, praised Senate Bill 1093 principally authored by Villar, and said “giving the OFWs priority in subscribing to total IPO shares of GOCCs (Government Owned and Controlled Corporations) is music to my ears and I hope to the other million of Overseas Filipinos around the world too.”
“It must be the businessman in you and your humble beginnings that enabled you to recognize the OFWs’ plight in so far as investment opportunities are concerned while they toil away from home and family,” Bolos said in an e-mail letter to Villar.
Bolos agreed with Villar that overseas Filipinos are an erstwhile untapped source of investment capital considering the economies of scale whereby a very conservative estimate of just 20% of the over 7 million overseas Filipinos investing a thousand dollars each will produce about $1.4 billion or about 75 billion pesos in fresh capital.
He said Villar’s bill could “awaken the sleeping giant in the overseas Filipinos whose billions of dollars are just parked abroad generating hardly a paltry sum in return. As an example, Bolos said banks in Saudi Arabia do not even pay interest on deposits as a rule.
“I beg of you to pursue the passage of your Bill No. 1093 with utmost speed if need be because the potentials it might unleash are enormous and the possibilities it presents are endless,” Bolos said.
Villar, as chairman of the Senate committee on finance, earlier underscored the need to give more incentives to OFWs and filed Senate Bill 1093 requiring GOCCs in a privatization program to set aside 20 percent of their total initial public offering (IPO) of shares to OFWs.
“It is a sad but common plight to see overseas workers who, after long periods of working away from home, come back to the Philippines with only a few pesos and perhaps a few pieces of small appliances to show for their long years of hard work,” he said.
Under Villar’s bill No. 1093, OFWs will be given priority in subscribing to total IPO shares of GOCCs. Villar said the bill would not only enable business to harness an erstwhile untapped source of investment capital, but would also give OFWs an investment alternative so they may increase their income and manage their hard-earned money wisely.
OFW remittances last year reached $6.95 million but Villar lamented that there have been very few measures that seek to help them in investing their money or educate them on the various investment instruments available.
As a result, he said many OFWs and their families have become victims of pyramid scams. He said the government should help OFWs and their families in their investment needs.
“The local economy would be very bleak without the support of the overseas Filipino worker who toils, separated from his home and country, in his desire to provide a better life for this family,” he said.
