Four Camarines Sur congressmen on Saturday appealed to their colleagues in the House of Representatives for the speedy approval of a bill that would enable some 10 million to 34 million Filipinos to open bank accounts.
Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, one of the four authors of House Bill 273 or the proposed “Bangko sa Baryo Act,” said “the swift legislative approval of this measure would go a long way for the 19th Congress to help President Marcos achieve his goals of bridging the country’s digital divide and attaining financial inclusion for all.”
Villafuerte said the glaring “disconnect” in the use of digital financial service in the country was “borne out by the reality that despite the dramatic increase in online or e-payments, particularly in the last two years, an estimated low of almost 10 million to a high of over 34 million Filipinos have no bank accounts yet, apparently because of our leave-much-to-be-desired digital infrastructure coupled with the dearth of banks, especially in remote villages.”
“It is imperative for us legislators to address this digital disconnect by passing HB 273 in the House and a counterpart bill in the Senate to establish soon enough a banking presence all over the country,” Villafuerte said.
A bank or transaction account is a basic indicator of financial inclusion and is the most basic tool for making digital transactions, according to the BSP, he added.
HB 273, co-authored by Camarines Sur Reps. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Horibata and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Nicolas Enciso VIII, mandate the Bangko Sentral to accredit cash agents with a good reputation and credit history to set up shop in retail outlets such as convenience stores, pharmacies, and other highly accessible places and serve as “last mile’ providers of financial services in faraway places with zero bank presence.
“This proposed ‘Bangko sa Baryo Act’ endeavors to attain financial inclusion for the Filipino people and to establish robust financial consumer protection frameworks,” Villafuerte and his co-authors said in HB 273. “It shall increase citizen’s financial literacy and capability so they can understand different financial services. It is hoped that, soon, an average barrio folk will be able to make sound financial decisions and put his or her hard-earned money to beneficial use.”