The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), in collaboration with the Department of Education (DepEd), has launched a savings advocacy program seen to reach over 5 million public high school students nationwide, year after year.

Dubbed as the PDIC-DepED Module Development Project, the initiative integrated in the high school curriculum the concepts of savings consciousness, financial literacy, the role of deposit insurance in financial stability and responsible banking. These are captured in Teacher's Guides in the subject areas of values education for the second, third and fourth year levels and in araling panlipunan (economics) in the fourth year level, which were developed by the PDIC and DepED. The Teacher' Guide in economics was developed with the assistance of other financial regulators comprising the Financial Sector Forum namely: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Insurance Commission; as well as other government financial institutions.

In simple ceremonies held at the DepED, PDIC Acting President Michael Osmeña said that, “Raising the youth' savings consciousness will help them make informed and empowered financial decisions in the future. ”

Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus lauded the PDIC for said initiative noting the support the Education department is getting from the financial sector in terms of financial literacy advocacy. He said that the habit of saving should start at the high school and expressed optimism that savings awareness will dramatically increase because of the PDIC initiative.

“I cannot think of a national advocacy catching fire without being promoted downstream into the schools”, Lapus said stressing that “the schools in the barangays are the nucleus of all advocacies”.

“The future of the country will depend on the quality of our people, and the habit of saving is just one tiny aspect of it but without it, we cannot move forward”Lapus said.

The teachers' guides are designed to help teachers carry out lively and interesting class discussions. For example, a values education teacher' guide suggests strategies in teaching simplicity and frugality like “The Millionaire”game where students will be grouped and each group will be given play money worth one million pesos. Students will be asked to make a list of the things they will do with their money and later explain their purchases in class. The teacher will then steer the discussion towards the values of simplicity, frugality, temperance, and prudence and expound on the value of saving money for one' future.

The teacher' guide in economics, on the other hand, suggests a panel discussion on the relations of various sectors (government, church, trading institutions, private sector, public sector, and banks) in the economic flow. It comes with guide questions on the importance of saving and investing and PDIC' role in safeguarding the interests of bank depositors.

The project, in the long-term, hopes to help improve the country' gross domestic savings rate. Data from the Asian Development Bank' Key Performance Indicators reveal that as of 2005, the Philippines' Gross Domestic Saving rate of 20.1 percent lags behind most of its Southeast Asian neighbors and is not even half of Singapore' 48.6 percent. Even Vietnam had outpaced the Philippines with 30.2 percent.

“As an economy, foreign direct investment is more crucial in the Philippines than in any other neighbor. Of course what we don't have is a domestic capital base and so the saving habit of ordinary people needs a lot of improvement, ”Lapus said.

As the government financial institution mandated to protect deposits, the PDIC is actively helping other financial regulators find ways to strengthen the Philippine banking system. PDIC Acting President Osmeña said that educating five million public high school students in over 5,000 public high schools nationwide year after year could have a considerable impact on the country' savings rate in the long-run.

Osmeña expressed optimism that the project will help spark the creation of a nation of informed savers who will help boost economic growth in the future.