One of the big reasons why the Philippine economy remains to be in a positive track is because of the enormous remittances that our OFW heroes are sending home month after month. In 2014, the remittances exceeded $25 Billion and we are not expecting that to slow down anytime soon. 

For this installation of the 2015 Outlook, I am featuring the views of an OFW himself, Burn Gutierrez. Burn is one of the driving force behind the increasing financial literacy of the OFW’s through his vast network of OFW’s world-wide. He is the founder of the OFW Usapang Piso, an on-line group that has over 33,000 members world-wide. An accountant by profession, he envisions seeing the OFW as financially enabled in the near future. 

The 2015 Outlook of OFW Usapang Piso’s Burn Gutierrez

The year 2014 has been a year of new opportunities and challenges for OFWs especially in the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia, we saw thousands of undocumented OFWs or those whose visa sponsorships has either expired and have not been renewed by their respective employers repatriated to the Philippines.

There have also been a significant decrease in the number of OFWs in Saudi Arabia while more Filipinos have emigrated to Canada or the USA according to the statistics provided by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. This could mean that many OFWs still view North America as the ultimate continent to immigrate to. I believe this migration trend will still continue this year.

Interestingly, BSP’s recent survey revealed that more Filipinos abroad and their families back home are allocating their remittances for savings and investments. The survey showed that OFW’s families savings increased to 42.1% in the last quarter of 2014 from the 39.7% in the previous quarter. Funds for investments also increased from 6.3% to 6.8%.

I would like to note and give credit to this development to a handful of financial literacy advocates and investment personalities who are gaining popularity on Filipino households abroad because of their exposure in Philippine TV shows streamed abroad by GMA PinoyTV, The Filipino Channel, and AksyonTV.

Another venue that will continue to aid the learning journey of OFW’s is the social media, especially the growing number of Facebook groups and pages that aim to educate Filipinos about paying consumer debts, saving for emergencies, insuring themselves, and investing in paper assets in addition to promoting traditional entrepreneurship. More OFW’s are starting to get information about affordable investing through the these social media groups and non-profit organizations online.

While this development do sound favorable, throngs of fraud schemes and online scams will still go after the hard-earned money of many OFW’s and their dependents this year. In the same manner, the combined vigilant effort of government agencies and non-profit organizations will help in identifying and fighting these scams.

The year 2015 will be a great year for many Filipinos to start their own businesses in the Philippines. Our OFW’s will realize this urgency considering the continuous falling of oil prices that may affect their current work overseas, most especially those who are working in the Middle East and the Americas. OFW’s should have this alternative plan while they still have their contract live in their respective countries of work.

Burn Gutierrez is an accountant and auditor based in Al Khobar in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is the founder of the OFW Usapang Piso Facebook group and the Angat Pilipinas Coalition. Through his efforts, OFWs all over the world are becoming financially aware. His extensive experience in the auditing and finance has equipped him to help the plight of the OFW’s achieve financial freedom. 

Fresh from conducting a total of 8 talks in my 11 day sojourn in the UAE, Oman and Qatar recently, I came home with fresh perspective of how our dear heroes are doing abroad. I gave a total of 5 talks in Dubai (UAE), 1 in Muscat (Oman) and 2 in Doha (Qatar) with a total estimate of about 1000 to 1200 OFWs in attendance. The talks were varied but all had a central theme which was money.

I got involved with the financial advocacy for OFWs in 2004 when the late Ka Tonyang Binsol, an OFW in Japan asked for my help to organize finance talks for OFWs who are back home for a visit. We were able to run successful talks which ignited my burning passion to promote financial education for the Pinoys. Sadly, my friend Ka Tonyang (loved by many, me included) passed away which temporarily put a stop on my outreach for the OFWs. Despite my absence in the advocacy for OFWs, I transferred my focus to pushing financial literacy to the Pinoys in general – something I have been doing and will be doing for a long time, but my desire for the OFWs remains.

5 years after meeting Ka Tonyang, I was blessed to be introduced to another OFW advocate, someone who has been a staunch supporter of our dear heroes – Ms. Susan “Toots” Ople. Toots, along with his partner Fort Jose of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center (BFO) asked me if I am interested in teaching OFWs about finances and I was so ecstatic to be given the opportunity to do so; the start of a wonderful partnership. In the same year, I was invited by Ms. Ople for a couple of speaking engagements in Hong Kong and other locations to reach out to the many OFWs who can benefit much from financial education. From then on, my passion to reach out to the OFWs has been rekindled and burning and I am blessed to be able to interact with many other advocates.

I have been blessed to speak and teach in 7 nations already namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar and there are arrangements being made for Saudi Arabia and Japan for this year. I am leaving again for Singapore to run programs and this year will be my fourth consecutive year speaking and teaching in Singapore. If plans go well, I may find myself in the Middle East again before the year is over – something I am very thankful to the Lord for.

Being an advocate to OFWs and the Pinoys in general is not an easy task – just ask the many other advocates. There are many hurdles but the biggest stumbling blocks would be

our behaviour and mindsets when it comes to personal finance. Our culture is a unique one and proper but basic money principles don’t seem to be ingrained in it, unfortunately. The OFWs are placed in a peculiar situation where they are earning much more than their counterparts at home and yet the financial strains they experience are just as disheartening. There continues to be problems with savings and worse, issues of debt. In my trip to Dubai, a lot of people were telling me of debt woes of the OFWs and many of them actually end up in jail because of debt. What is the most common problem of our OFWs?  It is too much financial dependence of their families, which is why most of them end up remitting all their income that ends up being spent and left with very little or no savings at all. Our brothers and sisters off shore feel that they can’t handle the burden anymore and many are on the brink of desperation. I feel so helpless whenever I speak to them as all I can only offer are few words of advice, a listening ear and a prayer. On top of financial problems, there are many other problems that they encounter – unfair employment treatment, loneliness, among others.

But, there is much to be ecstatic about OFWs and financial education as well. From 2004 to today, I have seen an enormous growth in finance advocacies and advocates amongst the OFWs. I’ve also witnessed stark improvements in the financial literacy of many OFWs as well. Although it is far from ideal, I believe that there is already momentum in the arena of financial education among them, and this is largely attributed to the OFWs themselves. In

the last 3 or 4 years, OFWs has successfully used social media as a means to spark interest on financial literacy. When the OFWs themselves began championing financial education in a more aggressive way and thanks to the internet, I believe it is only a matter of time before we see a financially enabled OFW population. Everywhere I go now, I have the chance to speak with them, sit down with them, break bread with them and most of time, I end up being encouraged myself by their passion to be financially enabled. Every country I go to, there will be advocates who will arrange for me to speak and teach and they do this not out of any gain but out of passion to help.  They have also been busy organizing their own forums, seminars and outreach groups all in the name of financial education. There are many groups out there but I would like to honor two groups whom I have been working with and I have seen their relentless passion to see a financially empowered OFW citizenry: The Global Filipino Investors (TGFI) and OFW Usapang Piso under the passionate leaderships of Floi Wycoco and Burn Gutierrez, respectively. These mighty advocates are not only making waves, they are changing the lives of many OFWs. Of course, their groups are successful because of their equally passionate core teams and members so kudos to all of them! I would also take time to honor the advocates who have been instrumental in my being able to speak to many OFWs like Charma de Villa (OFW Usapang Piso Israel), Allan Miranda (TGFI Dubai), Siegfried & Leonora Ras (OFW Usapang Piso Singapore), Leo & Normie Pascua (OFW Usapang Piso Dubai), Bernard & Rhea Anduyon (OFIEM Qatar), Rex Holgado (Alkansya ni Juan Singapore) and my dear friend Jess Emerson Uy of a co-advocate based in Singapore. There are many more OFWs who I am not mentioning but I want to thank you and the nation should thank you too.

The advocacy of financial education for OFWs is well on it’s way, it has started, it is moving and it is growing. “Alea iacta est,” the die has been cast, it is now only a matter of time and more importantly, a matter of scale.

Catch me at 2 upcoming events – Singapore event and iCon 2013 at the SMX. Details below:

Visit http://tgfiph.com/april27/ for more details.

Visit https://www.randelltiongson.com/i-con2013/ for more details.