OFWs to get help on financial literacy, says Binay

Vice President Jejomar Binay: Equipping OFWs with financial literacy. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Vice President Jejomar Binay has assured Filipinos working in Malaysia of government assistance and support, especially in gaining financial literacy.

“It is my wish to ensure the future of Filipinos overseas through financial literacy and the setting up of their own businesses and investments,” Binay said in a statement issued after a dinner with members of the Filipino community in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday.

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas launched in October last year the three-year second phase of a Joint Migration and Development Initiative, which aims, among other things, to strengthen the financial literacy and enterprise development of the migrant sector through training.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has its own “Peso Sense” drive as part of its Philippine Financial Freedom Campaign, which aims to improve productive expenditure, increased savings and entrepreneurship of families of OFWs (overseas Filipino workers).

Binay, concurrent presidential adviser on OFW concerns, said he hoped all Filipino workers abroad had valid visas and work permits to allow them the full protection of the law.

The Vice President was in Malaysia on June 17-19 to attend the inauguration of the World Scout Bureau offices in Kuala Lumpur as national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.

The World Scout Bureau relocated its operational headquarters from Geneva to Kuala Lumpur.

While in Malaysia, Binay also attended a breakfast meeting with Filipino businessmen at Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral Hotel, where the newly formed Filipino Businessmen and Professionals Caucus (FPBC) was launched.

Philippine Ambassador Eduardo Malaya initiated the formation of the FPBC, a group of Malaysia-based Filipino professionals and businessmen, with Edna Encarnacion as interim chair.

The FBPC will work with the larger Malaysian-Philippine Business Council in fostering closer engagement between the Philippine and Malaysian business sectors.

While in Malaysia, the Vice President paid a courtesy call on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Binay also had a luncheon meeting with his counterpart, deputy prime minister and education minister Muhyiddin bin Yassin, with whom he discussed further collaboration in trade, investment and education.–Jerome Aning