Guingona urges OFWs to buy bank

Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. reiterated yesterday his proposal to privatize the Postal Savings Bank by selling it to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who could use the bank as the vehicle for their remittances from abroad.

Guingona told representatives of various OFW groups in Makati City that the remittances of OFWs are enough to ensure the viability of the postal bank.

The Vice President said that some 7.8 million OFWs remit to their families in the country some $8 billion a year and the transaction fees alone on such remittances could make the troubled postal bank financially viable.

Guingona urged OFW investment groups to explore the possibility of asking the government to sell the postal bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the government-owned Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost).

He emphasized that using Postal Bank for the remittance needs of OFWs would be a big boost to the country’s economy in terms of fees collected from the transactions.

"Instead of using regular channels of remittance, our OFWs should negotiate with the government to control that bank and enlarge it and get savings from the remittances," Guingona told a forum sponsored by the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch and the International Organization of Migration.

"I challenge the overseas Filipinos to help the Philippines and to help yourselves by owning part of the legacy of the Philippine postal service system. You can do it because you have the imagination and the skills. You can build a remittance system from all parts of the globe and back to the Philippines," he said.

Guingona said Bangon! Reform Movement, of which he a convenor, will support such an initiative to help OFWs lobby for the bank’s privatization.

Guingona said he broached the idea of OFWs managing the Postal Bank after the Department of Finance (DOF) recently disapproved his proposal to float investment bonds for migrant workers.

Under the plan, the bonds would have been sold to OFWs with adequate dollar savings and the earnings of the project could then be used to finance welfare and legal assistance programs for distressed Filipinos abroad, Guingona said.

Guingona claimed the DOF opposed his proposal because if supposedly violates the General Appropriations Act.

The Vice President explained the Postal Bank is a corporation whose controlling stock interests could be purchased by any group or company.

He noted that it would be easier for OFWs to purchase an existing bank rather than create a new one that may require an act of legislation.