Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva today threw his support behind plans of the Department of Finance (DOF) to launch retail treasury bonds targeted at overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

This, according to Villanueva, is s a great investment opportunity for the OFWs described as the country’s “modern heroes”.

“I fully support the DOF in its initiative. This dollar-denominated security to be issued next year is a great opportunity for our kababayans (countrymen) abroad to invest their hard-earned income in safe, low-risk, and affordable investment instruments,” Villanueva said.

The senator from Bulacan also said that he has high hopes for the dollar-denominated bonds and urged both the public and the private sectors to spread the word and support this offering.

“With the recent OCTA Survey findings that show Filipinos giving the administration a high 86 percent trust rating and 78 percent performance rating, we expect this investment offering to have the full support of the public,” Villanueva said.

“Filipinos should consider buying retail treasury bonds as a patriotic way of investing in the country’s growth and progress,” he added.

As the bond offering is targeted for migrant workers, Villanueva said that the government should add more protections for OFWs, which the senator said he anticipated when he pushed for the passage of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Law.

Villanueva then called on the DMW to enrich the country’s full reintegration program so that OFWs would have more access to livelihood opportunities when they come home.

“Other than offering livelihood packages, the program should include investment options such as government bonds and financial literacy training so that our OFWs could build their “retirement plan” when they return to the country,” he said.

Villaneuva also lauded the DOF’s efforts to make these securities more easily accessible to the public through homegrown digital platforms such as the Overseas Filipino Bank--a subsidiary of the LANDBANK of the Philippines--making investing easier, convenient, and secure, even for first-timers.

“By making retail bonds more accessible to more Filipinos, we will continue to move closer to our goal of financial inclusion for all Filipinos in the name of nation building,” he said.