Senator Win Gatchalian is urging government financial institutions to create a bank account for every unbanked Filipino.
Gatchalian said this will hasten the distribution of public and social services to beneficiaries.
He said under this process, the giving of aid would be expedited as this would be directed to the bank accounts of beneficiaries.
In filing Senate Bill No. 808 or One Filipino One Bank Account Act, he said it would also be easier for Filipinos to learn to use banks and other online facilities in their different transactions.
The proposed measure, which the senator refiled this 19th Congress, seeks to mandate government financial institutions, such as Landbank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), to open and maintain a bank account for every Filipino to access financial services provided by the government including educational assistance and other forms of subsidy.
Gatchalian said the measure will work side by side with the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) Law, a system that gathers information from all households in the community that is local government unit-based, starting at the barangay level.
While the Philippine National ID addresses an individual’s lack of documentary requirements for opening a bank account, Gatchalian said the government still needs to facilitate and strengthen the financial inclusion landscape in the Philippines and to promote seamless, efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of public and social services.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) 2019 Financial Inclusion Survey showed that only 28.6% of the respondents 15 years old and above have a formal account which includes bank, e-money, cooperative, and microfinance institutions accounts and only 12.2% of these respondents have bank accounts. The same survey showed that 71% have difficulty in opening an account due to documentary requirements and 58% do not have the requirements for their loan applications in a formal financial institution.