MANILA, 22 November — Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) looking for risk-free investment should better prepare for the Bagong Bayani Bond the government is going to sell next year.
National Treasurer Sergio Edeza has said the offering, scheduled for launching next week, is meant to beef up the government’s coffers and at the same time provide OFWs a safe form of investment.
So that even the lowly paid OFWs could participate in the offering, the bond would be sold at denominations of at least $100 and will have a three-year maturity, Edeza told Arab News in an interview.
He said the initial offering will total $250 million, which will be sold to individual OFWs and to larger institutions.
The participating banks are the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), the Landbank of the Philippines (LBP), and the Metro Investment Corporation (MIC).
Edeza explained that the bond is free of risk as the principal will be protected for three years and returns are assured. He added that they still have to determine how much interest the bonds can earn.
As an added come-on, he said, those who buy the bonds are entitled to accident and health insurance as well as raffle coupons for a weekly lottery offering a cash prize of $10,000.
Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., who is also the country’s foreign secretary, said the project will be pilot tested in Tokyo and Osaka where over 200,000 OFWs are based.
“This will democratize wealth, enhance savings of overseas Filipino workers, and provide them venues to assist the nation in its budgetary requirements,” Guingona said.
There are about 7.5 million OFWs with the majority working in the United States, the Middle East, Canada, Japan and Hong Kong, according to the DFA.
The bond is being initiated by the Department of Foreign Affair’s (DFA) as part of its “Tulong OFW” program, in partnership with the Bureau of Treasury and the Department of Finance (DOF).
“According to our study, Filipino workers in Japan have an average savings ratio of 10 to 20 percent excluding their remittances their relatives in the Philippines,” he was quoted by local papers as saying.
It will also be implemented in other countries where there is a large concentration of Filipinos.
“These bonds aim to create a partnership with OFWs and the government in nation-building” he said.
Edeza said these government bonds are good investments since it would enable Filipino workers to keep their savings intact.
Bonds are also dollar denominated to protect OFWs from exchange losses.
A similar program was launched to attract OFWs to buy Treasury bills to as low as 5000 pesos by the Estrada administration but it never materialized.
At present, only the banks or big investors are making earny money from Treasury bills.
