Villar urges OFWs to become entrepreneurs

Re-electionist Senator Manuel Villar Jr. urged overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on Thursday to invest in business ventures that can give them better returns for their hard-earned money. “I urge our OFWs to become OFIs or overseas Filipino investors," said Villar, the incumbent Senate president. On his first term at the Senate, Villar sponsored Bill No. 635 or the proposed Overseas Filipino Investment Act seeking to propel entrepreneurship among OFWs by putting in place the necessary mechanisms and incentives. The measure is entitled, “An Act to promote the establishment of business enterprises by Overseas Filipinos, providing incentives and benefits thereof and for other purposes." “Being our country’s modern-day heroes whose contributions stir the growth of our economy, our OFWs need to be on the government’s top priority in terms of support," Villar explained. The measure seeks the issuance of short-term and long-term OFI bonds by government banks, provision of credit facilities by government financial institutions, allocation of 10% of the total equity of government’s existing businesses for OFIs and their families, among other benefits and incentives such as income tax exemptions. “We should return the favor to our OFWs who sacrifice and work doubly hard for their families and for the country by giving them opportunities for entrepreneurship," the reelectionist senator who is running as independent guest candidate of the Genuine Opposition said. In a report last month, the International Monetary Fund noted that most Filipino households heavily dependent on remittances from relatives abroad have moved up to the middle and high-income families, from the bottom two income brackets. “It is much more likely now than in 1991 that the uses for this income go beyond consumption and subsistence, and are put toward saving and investment," the IMF said. The IMF considered the “large and growing remittance inflows" from overseas Filipinos as the primary factor that explains the Philippines’ strength in the service sector. - GMANews.TV