Starting them young

His name is Temyong Tipid, an ant-mascot at the heart of the "Bata…Bata… Mag-impok at Magsinop" savings advocacy campaign of The Real Bank (A Thrift Bank), Inc.

Started last school year, Temyong Tipid has already interacted with the Grades 1 and 2 students of 20 schools.

"Requests for Temyong Tipid to visit schools have been encouraging," said bank vice-president for business planning, training, and marketing services Anna Lissa Ochoa. "We have tried to accommodate such requests even though the campaign is, strictly speaking, being piloted in only 18 public and private schools in the National Capital Region and in Regions III (Central Luzon) and IV (Southern Tagalog) where the bank has a presence."

Temyong Tipid is the second of four levels of the P6-million campaign, with the Department of Education as the implementing agency.

The first level involves knowledge, with a DepEd-developed workbook for students and a teaching guide for teachers. The workbook advocates thriftiness and savings discipline.

The classroom learning process is reinforced in the second level, with a 45-minute presentation/skit starring Temyong Tipid.

The third level is interactive, wherein a contest will be held among participating schools to encourage kids to express their understanding of the value of savings through art. In the fourth level, kids will be given a guided tour of a Real Bank branch.

"The fourth level is optional. Some of the participating schools do not allow field trips for their Grade 1 students. There are also logistical challenges, since some schools have as many as 2,000 Grade 1 students. To transport these seven-year-old students, even by batches to the nearest bank branch, may not be practical," said Ochoa.

Refocus

Real Bank’s savings advocacy was conceptualized in early 2004 by the new board chaired by Punongbayan & Araullo founding partner Jose Araullo.

"Our board wanted to refocus and reorient the bank’s vision and principles beyond the provision of efficient banking services, which all other banks actually do. The bank preferred to actively participate in the value formation process, believing that the revival and enhancement of traditional Filipino values can actually help in nation-building and in the strengthening of the banking industry. From there, the savings advocacy campaign among children came up. Who better to partner with for such a project than the educators themselves?", said Ochoa.

After a lengthy discussion between the controlling shareholders, the Acuzar family, and the bank’s senior management team led by president Alfredo Baretto, the budget for the advocacy campaign was approved.

For a thrift bank that began as a savings and loan association, Real Bank knows what it’s talking about. A large part of its deposit portfolio is in savings deposits. From 1994 to 2004, its branch network increased from four to 23, with five of them in Metro Manila; total resources grew 17 times from P150 million to P2.576 billion; and capital increased 23.8 times from P31. 53 million to P750.19 million. Yet, the bank has managed to run a tight ship, increasing its workforce by only five times from 52 to 256 during the same period.

By Example

Based on DepEd’s feedback from the pilot schools, the project is considered timely, as many children only think of spending. Schools visited by Temyong Tipid rate the presentation as relevant.

"We have yet to receive a formal report from DepEd for the first year of the project. DepEd has its own evaluation form, which is internal to them," said Ochoa. "For our part, we are now drawing plans for school year 2005 to 2006. We might expand the project to more schools."