PROMOTING FINANCIAL LITERACY. PDIC President Valentin Araneta welcomes personal finance author and trainer Efren Ll. Cruz as writer of PDIC’s Financial Literacy Handbook to be launched next year to commemorate PDIC’s 50th anniversary. In photo (left to right) are PDIC Senior Vice President Alma Teresa R. Malanog (Corporate Services Sector), Executive VP Cristina Q. Orbeta (Receivership and Liquidation Sector), VP Marcelo E. Ayes (Office of the President) and Senior VP Sandra A. Diaz (Deposit Insurance Sector).

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) has taken its financial literacy advocacies a notch higher by producing a Financial Literacy (FL) Handbook that will educate the vulnerable sectors of society to handle their hard-earned savings. The handbook will cater to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families and beneficiaries, retirees and senior citizens, among others, and is expected to be launched by the first quarter of 2013. PDIC celebrates its 50th anniversary in June 2013.

PDIC has engaged the services of bestselling author and personal finance adviser Efren L. Cruz as the handbook’s author. Cruz has written the bestselling works, “Pwede Na! The Complete Pinoy Guide to Personal Finance” and “Pwede Na! The Complete Pinoy Guide to Retirement and Estate Planning.”

The Handbook is envisioned to be one of the major legacies of PDIC in promoting financial literacy and public awareness on deposit insurance. Public awareness is also one of the key milestones in the PDIC roadmap. An effective public awareness policy on the benefits and limitations of deposit insurance on an ongoing basis is an important ingredient for maintaining financial stability and is one of the Core Principles of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI).

The Financial Literacy Handbook will complement PDIC’s existing financial literacy advocacies that include the “7 Habits of a Wise Saver” under its Be a Wise Saver (BAWS) campaign and its curriculum-based Financial Literacy Project (FLP) with the Department of Education (DepED). These programs are aimed at educating the depositing public and the youth in becoming informed and responsible savers.

The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) was established on June 22, 1963 by Republic Act 3591 to provide depositor protection and help maintain stability in the financial system by providing permanent and continuing deposit insurance. Effective June 1, 2009, the maximum deposit insurance coverage is P500,000 per depositor. All deposit accounts by a depositor in a closed bank maintained in the same right and capacity shall be added together. A joint account shall be insured separately from any individually-owned deposit account.

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