Realistically, the proposed amendments to Republic Act (RA) 7353, or the Rural Banks Act of 1992, is still a long ways to a piece of legislation as it must pass the two chambers of Congress, then the bicameral committee before it could find its way to the endorser, the President.
"It could take months, years, or forever," a rural banker said, admitting nonetheless that it is still a step in the right direction.
The Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) is spearheading the retooling of the rural bank system, and the "new" rural banks would be transformed into business, service and information (BIS) centers.
In an open letter to Arroyo, the gratified RBAP said the measure will help to broaden and hasten economic development in the countryside.
"As a measure of relevance of our industry’s contribution to countryside development, we offer our initiative - the Countryside E-market," Daniel Arcenas, RBAP president said.
"Imagine over 1,800 instant access and delivery points throughout the countryside. The nationwide network of rural bank offices physically covering 106 cities (93 percent of all cities), 753 municipalities (50.4 percent of all municipalities) and serving 300 other municipalities," he added.
RBAP boosted that unwrapping the BIS centers would not take years since it requires minor changes in its present banking practices.
One such measure is the bayad centers, or an extensive and vital outreach and access centers for payments or remittances for members of the Social Security System (SSS), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, and war veterans.
Another is the OFW-service centers. It could be a network to improve the access and lower the cost of remittances services to OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) and their families. A system that will offer other value-added services such as deposit, credit and asset build-up services to OFWs and their families.