Much-needed legislation

Every year, a new report comes out confirming what everyone already knows. Too many Filipinos are unbanked. Too many are locked out of formal credit. Too many are left to borrow from relatives, loan groups and informal lenders charging rates that would be illegal if a bank tried them.

The World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 report is the latest entry in this file. It found that only 50.2 percent of Filipinos aged 15 and above owned an account with a bank or regulated financial entity; a figure that had actually declined from 51.4 percent in 2021. Meanwhile, a 2024 Euromonitor International report estimates that 76 percent of Filipinos are unbanked or underserved by formal financial institutions.

Still, digital payments account for 57.4 percent of all retail transactions in the country, and an estimated 58 million Filipinos now use e-wallets.

The data showed that Filipinos are participating in the digital economy at scale. Sadly, the formal financial system is not keeping up. And the gap between those two realities has been widening for years, documented in report after report, while the practical tools to close it have remained frustratingly out of reach.

A bill recently filed in Congress seeks to change that, not with another study but with a legal mechanism.

The Open Finance and Consumer Data Empowerment Act of 2025, filed by Tingog Party List Rep. Jude Acidre, would give Filipinos the legal right to authorize the transfer of their own financial and transactional data, including bill payments, e-wallet history, subscription activity, or even airline miles records, to accredited lenders for credit evaluation.

In plain terms, a Filipino who has been paying utility bills or subscriptions for years would finally have a standardized, enforceable mechanism to bring that payment history to a lender and have it considered as part of a credit assessment.

This is not a novel idea. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the International Finance Corp. have already piloted exactly this kind of consumer-authorized data sharing through the Open Finance PH Pilot, testing how an application programming interface (API)-based data transfers could help those without traditional documentation build a financial profile and access credit.

The technology to fix this already exists. What has been missing is a regulation that gives consumers the legal right to use it and imposes a legal obligation on institutions to comply. That is what this bill provides. Voluntary pilots and regulatory circulars depend on institutional willingness. A law does not.

The bill also proposes creating a Consumer Data Commission, the country’s first regulatory body dedicated to governing the digital financial data ecosystem, with authority to set standards, accredit recipients, audit compliance, and sanction violators.

The underlying logic of the measure is sound and grounded in data that the country’s own regulators have been collecting for years. The BSP has known for a long time that credit data infrastructure is weak, that lenders price for uncertainty when they cannot assess borrowers accurately, and that the cost of that uncertainty falls hardest on those already outside the formal system. The reports have said so, repeatedly. The question was always when the diagnosis would produce a prescription with teeth.

Whether Congress has the appetite to pass it, and whether the implementing commission is given the resources and independence to do its job, will determine whether it actually fills the gap that a decade of reports has only documented.

The unbanked Filipino has been the subject of enough studies. It is time they became the subject of a working law.

Far from over

The leadership dispute within the Senate was finally resolved following the election of Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian as the new president of the Upper Chamber on June 17.

Since the end of May, work at the Senate has been paralyzed due to the non-attendance of the Cayetano-led bloc, which previously served as the Senate majority, during the last week of May. However, on June 3, Sen. Chiz Escudero, a member then of the Cayetano bloc, decided to attend the plenary session in order for the present senators to reach a quorum. His decision to show up on this day enabled Gatchalian’s election as Senate President Pro Tempore.

Escudero managed to rehabilitate his reputation as a politician. For certain pundits and commentators, Escudero served as the savior of the Senate.

For a moment, there are those who forgot that just last April 16, the field investigation office of the Office of the Ombudsman had recommended the filing of plunder, graft and indirect bribery charges against Escudero in connection with various flood control projects. The Sandiganbayan has also granted the Ombudsman’s request to issue a precautionary hold departure order against the senator.

The FIO complaint was based on the testimonies of former Public Works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo. It alleged that Escudero had indirectly received P306 million and P280 million in kickbacks from the flood control projects, and that the said kickbacks were collected by businessman Maynard Ngu, who is the senator’s friend, campaign contributor and alleged bagman.

Meanwhile, last May 21, Escudero filed a counter-affidavit with the Ombudsman to deny the allegations made against him by Bernardo. He claimed that he did not authorize Ngu to act on his behalf and that the complaint did not show proof that he had received the money.

The Ombudsman hasn’t yet decided whether to dismiss the case or forward it to the Sandiganbayan.

Many Filipinos seek to hold erring public officials involved in the flood control corruption scandal accountable.

They are now asking the Ombudsman to maintain an objective position on Escudero’s case and not to be swayed by increasing efforts to salvage Escudero’s public reputation. They say he may now be seen as a hero, but he still needs to answer the allegations against him regarding his involvement in the flood control corruption scheme.

Not so hidden agenda

Advertising industry giant DDB Group Philippines is now GGC Group Asia, following a global decision by its parent holding company, Omnicom Group, to retire the iconic 75-year-old DDB brand worldwide. GGC Group Asia will continue to work with Omnicon as needed, providing clients with access to global marketing communications resources.

The new name is inspired by the initials of GGC Group chairman and CEO Gil G. Chua.

Three of the group’s integrated marketing communications agencies that previously carried the DDB or Tribal brands will also get new names. DDB Philippines is now Velocity+, while DDB MNL will now be Alab MNL and Tribal Worldwide Philippines is now The Tribe.

Specialized advertising, PR and data arms Optimax Communications, Agile Intelligence, Ripple8, Touch XDA and Bent and Buzz will keep their current names.

Sister companies from the FCT Group, including business and logistics solutions firms FOSA, Caishen, Track Mnl, Xpress Move, Strawberry Jam and PhilMovers, are being fully integrated under the GGC Group Asia umbrella.

The GGC Group now comprises 14 companies with more than 7,500 employees. The transition will not affect leadership, client relationships, talent, contracts and ongoing operations.

Under its new name, GGC Group got its first feather in the cap after bagging Campaign’s Agency of the Year Global, Talent Management Team 2025 award in London last June 18.

This year’s global awards program recognized some of the most dynamic and groundbreaking marketing agencies worldwide.

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