Dubai: A programme to encourage Filipinos in the UAE to save and be prepared for calamities back home will be launched in the UAE next year, a Philippine envoy told Gulf News on Tuesday.
Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Grace Princesa said she plans to pioneer a savings-cum-emergency fund scheme for Filipinos in the UAE in association with a Philippine bank by next year.
“It’s basically a voluntary savings and emergency scheme for disaster preparedness. It’s important for us to develop that savings mentality among our compatriots because they are usually the ones who suffer badly whenever a disaster strikes the country and affects their families back home,” Princesa said.
The programme, which will be called Pinoy — colloquial for Filipino — Bonds, was initiated because of the recent disasters that struck the country. Super typhoon Haiyan, which flattened provinces in central Philippines earlier this month, and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that affected the same region in October are just a few of these deadly disasters.
Princesa was upset about the fact that many Filipino expatriates are often unprepared financially when calamities hit their families. This should not be the case since the Philippines is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries according to the World Disaster Report 2013 of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
“The aim is to start with as low as Dh10 for a minimum bond. Think of it as skipping buying a Dh10 coffee. And they’ll need probably Dh100 to open an account, and buy more in the future. This is to encourage any Filipino in the UAE to join the scheme regardless of income,” Princesa said.
Ernesto Refugio, chairman of the Filipino umbrella organisation Bayanihan Council, welcomed the proposal. “We can take the recent typhoon Haiyan as an example. Those who had emergency funds were able to send money to their families right away.”
