Again, with the indulgence of www.gmanews.tv may I post herein in toto the said news article and pilipino's initial reaction and reservations, as follows:
Binay wants plans for 'OFW Bank' revived
12/22/2010 | 02:59 PM
To bring down the cost of sending money to the Philippines, Vice President Jejomar Binay said Wednesday he is pushing for the creation of an “OFW Bank."
Binay — also the Presidential Adviser on OFWs’ Concerns — wrote to President Benigno Aquino III pushing for the proposed bank as an “alternative yet viable" remittance institution here and abroad.
“The bank will provide fair competition towards the reduction or lowering of remittance or transaction costs and provide a productive outlet for our overseas Filipinos’ savings as bank investors and shareholders," he said in the letter posted on the Office of the Vice President’s website.
Binay said the move was in response to OFWs’ (overseas Filipino workers) clamor for an OFW Bank, as financial intermediaries and money brokers are presently charging exorbitant fees for money transfers.
Government financial institutions will initially fund and underwrite the bank, according to the Vice President said.
Eventually, investors and stockholders will own and control the OFW Bank, Binay said.
Money sent home by OFWs rose to $15.46 billion in the first 10 months of the year, up 7.9 percent from $14.23 billion in the same period last year, central bank data showed.
A chunk of the remittances came from the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, UK, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Italy, Germany, and Norway.
The idea for an OFW Bank was raised in 2006 as a way of consolidating the financial assets and operational capabilities of government institutions, like Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and Philippine Postal Corp.
The project was supposed to create a financial institution for OFWs, one that is inexpensive and more focused toward its OFW-oriented direction and services. Because of the global recession, it was shelved.
Instead, LandBank and DBP launched separate remittance programs for the lucrative OFW market estimated by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration between eight million and 11.5 million land- and sea-based employees. — JE/VS, GMANews.TV
Binay — also the Presidential Adviser on OFWs’ Concerns — wrote to President Benigno Aquino III pushing for the proposed bank as an “alternative yet viable" remittance institution here and abroad.
“The bank will provide fair competition towards the reduction or lowering of remittance or transaction costs and provide a productive outlet for our overseas Filipinos’ savings as bank investors and shareholders," he said in the letter posted on the Office of the Vice President’s website.
Binay said the move was in response to OFWs’ (overseas Filipino workers) clamor for an OFW Bank, as financial intermediaries and money brokers are presently charging exorbitant fees for money transfers.
Government financial institutions will initially fund and underwrite the bank, according to the Vice President said.
Eventually, investors and stockholders will own and control the OFW Bank, Binay said.
Money sent home by OFWs rose to $15.46 billion in the first 10 months of the year, up 7.9 percent from $14.23 billion in the same period last year, central bank data showed.
A chunk of the remittances came from the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, UK, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Italy, Germany, and Norway.
The idea for an OFW Bank was raised in 2006 as a way of consolidating the financial assets and operational capabilities of government institutions, like Land Bank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and Philippine Postal Corp.
The project was supposed to create a financial institution for OFWs, one that is inexpensive and more focused toward its OFW-oriented direction and services. Because of the global recession, it was shelved.
Instead, LandBank and DBP launched separate remittance programs for the lucrative OFW market estimated by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration between eight million and 11.5 million land- and sea-based employees. — JE/VS, GMANews.TV
THE INITIAL REACTIONS AND APPREHENSIONS
The clamor for an OFW Bank is now gaining grounds though each proposal differ in their approaches but the common general idea really is to help the OFWs, in fact there is this discussion site about this OFW Bank in http://ofwbankincubator.blogsp... and it might just be worth your while to drop by that site and check out the ideas being espoused there, and pitch in your ideas there too.
I support the Vice President's move along this line and I appreciate him for writing the President about this clamor for an OFW Bank that will be sensitive to the needs of the OFWs.
But I have reservations though about government hands directly involved in its operations because governments are not known to be efficient in running businesses like that, I mean PNB was losing money when it was run by the government. Quedancor was another sad story. And that involves government money at under COA audit pa yan.
Can the government bureaucrats change skin overnight and become efficient? Remember this will involve OFW money, how can you pin down government-appointed bank directors, officers and managers if they mismanage the OFW Bank owned by the OFWs? The Philippine Postal Bank is a good example of bad government-appointed managers (please don't misunderstand me, I'm not hitting PNoy nor VP Binay here).
How can you pin down the people responsible for such mess? May nakasuhan at nakulong na ba na mga tao na naging dahilan ng pagkalugi at pagbagsak ng QUEDANCOR? Ang pagkalugi ng SSS at GSIS? May naipakulong na ba? Yung OWWA Fund anong nangyari? Yung RSBS at Veteran's money? And then we use the money to bail out an ailing Postal Bank and make it an OFW Bank, common.
I don't want to be pessimistic but is there no political color here especially if some people are known to be gunning for 2016 elective positions? I mean Sen. Manny Villar also sponsored a Senate Bill for an OFW Bank with that same line where the Postal bank is involved. That was when he was gunning for the Presidency but he was quite about it since then because it's not useful for him now.
Sana ay maling-mali po ako sa aking mga sapantaha. Baka ang mangyayari pa niyan dadagsain yan ng loans ng mga politico na nakatulong "kuno" sa pagtatayo ng OFW Bank tapos wala ng bayaran pag natalo sa election. Ganoon po kasi ang nangyari sa QUEDANCOR. It started as a noble program to provide farmers and small businesses wider and easier access to capital for their small scale businesses.
Ang ginawa po ng mga likong politico ay nagtayo po sila ng maraming mga cooperatives, farmers group, samahang nayon businesses that appeared to be viable that's why those loans were approved and released to them, but the money was never really used to put up those businesses but were diverted to political ends.
Sabi nila kunwari ay magtatayo ng babuyan sa ganitong nayon ngunit ang pera ay napunta sa baboy na politico and this evil practice was duplicated by other politicos nationwide, nagkokoyahan sila ng ganung paraan paano makahiram ng pera para panggastos sa politika. Noong di sila nanalo walang habol sa kanila ang gobyerno dahil hindi naman sila ang nakapirma doon kundi yung mga business fronts nila na ang nakasalang doon ay mga pangalan ng mga maliliit na mga taga-nayon na nagtiwala sa kanila na maiahon ang kanilang pamumuhay sa "kagandahang kalooban ni congressman, ni mayor at ni governor. Walang mahabol na tao ang Quedancor kasi alangan naman pong ipakulong nila yung mga maliliit na magsasakang nakapirma po doon e hindi naman sila nakatanggap ng pera, and the matter will become politicized so the solution was to close down Quedancor dahil lugi daw po.
I don't want that same fate to happen with the OFW Bank. Again I might be grossly misunderstood here as either to pessimistic or because I want to hit or discredit somebody which are totally far from my intentions here. I am just giving you cautions and trying also to help others see the other side of the coin. It is for you to weigh the ideas and apprehensions I raised here and see for yourselves if I am just babbling some nonsense here. You might want to compare it with the ideas raised in http://ofwbankincubator.blogsp..., just check because it might help everyone in coming up with the best thesis.
The idea as presented in the news article above is good, it just needs some fine-tuning to ensure efficiency, transparency, responsibility, accountability, professionalism and ethical practice in running that bank.
MORE ARTICLES FOR YOU:
No comments:
Post a Comment