Bill requiring financial literacy training for OFWs pushed in Senate

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Raffy Tulfo is eyeing mandatory free financial literacy training for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in a bid to equip them against investment scams and other online frauds.

On Monday, the head of the Senate committee on migrant workers said he had filed Senate Bill No. 2078, or the proposed OFWs Financial Literacy Enhancement Act, to give OFWs “tools to better manage their finances.”

“Numerous OFWs are victimized by various investment and online scams. Due to a lack of financial knowledge, a great number of OFWs are exploited and swindled off their hard-earned money and return home to their families empty-handed,” according to Tulfo’s bill.

READ: BSP education programs eye financial literacy for 58M Filipinos

Because of this, Tulfo stressed he is seeking to boost the financial education of Filipinos, especially OFWs, by mandating that they complete financial literacy seminars before they leave the Philippines and upon their arrival at their country of destination. The financial literacy education should be given for free, he added.

Under the bill, the Department of Finance is enjoined to lead the conduct of the seminars in coordination with the Department of Migrant Workers.

If passed into law, the measure compels the government to “educate the OFWs on the budgets and actual expenditures of government institutions, provide credit information on micro- and small-scale enterprises to prospective lenders, and prioritize the liens on real estate and movable collaterals to secure loans.”

“Financial literacy should include education on financial products such as stocks, bonds, insurance, and mutual funds, which are available in the market,” the bill states.

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TAGS: ofws, senate bill