(BUSINESS MIRROR) SENATOR Jinggoy Estrada is banking on Congress to promptly pass a bill for Malacañang to enact a law mandating financial literacy program for workers.
In filing Senate Bill (SB) 2630, Estrada said the enabling legislation is awaited “to help workers make sound financial decisions,” adding that the enabling bill also aims to require employers nationwide to provide a “free financial literacy program for all its employees.” The senator explains that “the role of employers to take a lead in this endeavor cannot be undermined because they provide the most accessible venues and channels for such initiatives.”
“Kung gugustuhin ng mga employers, magagawan ito ng paraan para maitaas natin ang antas sa kaalaman ng ating mga manggagawa kung paano sila makakapag-ipon, mamuhunan at iba pa,” Estrada added. [This can be done as a way to raise the level of knowledge of our workers on how they can save, invest and so on.]
In explaining his proposed Personal Finance Education in the Workplace Act contained under SB 2630, Estrada assured: “This will benefit the employees and workers because it will give them the knowledge and skills to effectively and efficiently manage their resources and allow them to be financially stable.”
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development explained that “companies will, likewise, benefit from financially-stable employees who are more focused on their tasks, thus more productive and satisfied in their work.”
Under the bill, employers will be mandated to provide a personal finance education program for all its workers which will include topics on behavioral finance, savings, emergency and resilience fund development, debt management, investment, insurance and retirement planning, and other applicable personal finance programs.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), in consultation with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and other concerned government agencies, shall make available the standard content of the program.
The employer may conduct the program in-house, outsourced, or through other available options.
In filing the bill, which seeks to amend a provision in Presidential Decree No. 442, otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines, Estrada said a survey conducted by the BSP showed that only 1 percent of surveyed Filipino adults answered the questions on financial literacy correctly.
Further, according to the World Bank, only 25 percent of adult Filipinos are knowledgeable about basic financial concepts.