Wais sa Pera, Wais sa Buhay

I have always believed in the necessity of financial literacy, among communities and even in educational institutions. In fact, it is part of my advocacy to make Finance a subject taught in Junior or Senior High School. This is because I believe that Financial Literacy can help Filipinos make wiser financial decisions, apart from being a very practical subject. In line with this, I teach in both the Ateneo de Manila University and the Development Academy of the Philippines. The subjects I teach include Fundamentals of Finance, Personal Finance, Management Analysis, and Senior Seminar, the equivalent of thesis or creative project for Interdisciplinary Studies (I.S.) majors.

Part of the requirements I impose on my students doing their theses is that I want a thesis that they can be proud of, even when they become older. Fortunately for me, many of my I.S. students have responded to this challenge, creating projects that even benefit the communities around them. One such project was created by John Carlo Mel “Jace” Madlangbayan (AB Interdisciplinary Studies, 2013). Combining his interests in both Information Design and Management disciplines, he came out with the layout and printed platform for materials developed by Dr. Darwin D. Yu, Dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management, and students from different student organizations supporting financial literacy. Jace created the layout of the book “Wais sa Pera, Wais sa Buhay: Para sa Mga Nanay” and the character of Aling Barya to help Filipinos become financially literate. Jace’s thesis led to the creation of two booklets, which were used to help educate nanays on basic financial literacy and to train the student facilitators. With the support of BPI Globe Banko, booklets were printed and given out to both student facilitators and nanays who underwent the training process.

The student facilitators came from the pool of NSTP students from the John Gokongwei School of Management and they were trained to help educate the nanays about financial literacy. With the help of the Department of Education and Migi Soriano (BS Management, 2011) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, target areas were identified for pilot testing and nanays who were beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program from Tandang Sora, Batasan and Commonwealth in Quezon City became the first “students” of the Financial Literacy Project. Over a period of seven Saturdays, the nanays went through the different modules, which included goal-setting, budgeting and debt management. These modules were conducted in Filipino.

John Carlo Mel “Jace” Madlangbayan (right; AB Interdisciplinary Studies, 2013)

After the project was conducted, focus-group discussions were conducted to see how the project could be improved further. Many parents who were part of the training claimed that they now improved their budgeting skills, by learning how to identify and control unnecessary expenses. One parent even remarked on how the sessions made her ensure that she saves first, before budgeting for daily needs. The sessions also helped nanays manage their debt. Some participants commented that the sessions were sometimes repetitive, but others believed that the repetition reinforced their learning. Overall, I believe that the project was successful and the model can be replicated all over the Philippines.

I gave the student a grade of A, and I was very satisfied with the results of this project. Steps are being taken to improve this project and hopefully, many more communities can be beneficiaries of this program. Classes are going to open in a few weeks, and I pray that God sends me another batch of students willing to make a difference, and to help build the nation through financial literacy.

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The author teaches subjects under Interdisciplinary Studies, and Finance and Accounting Department at the Ateneo de Manila University. He can be reached via email at lyee@ateneo.edu for queries.