Solons want higher insured deposits

Two opposition congressmen proposed yesterday an increase in the amount of insured bank deposits from P100,000 to P500,000 per depositor.

Representatives Prospero Pichay Jr. (Lakas, Surigao del Sur) and Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon) said the closure of Urban Bank should prompt Congress to increase insurance coverage for bank deposits.

They said the Senate and the House, when they resume session on Monday, should give priority to pending measures that seek to upgrade deposit insurance coverage.

In the House, there is a pending bill which proposes to increase the amount of insured deposits to P500,000. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate by Lakas Sen. Rene Cayetano.

Pichay and Zubiri said: "Many private and government workers, especially those with long years of service, have bank savings of more than P100,000 and they should be protected up to the full amount of their deposits, or at least up to P500,000."

They said unless adequate protection was extended to bank depositors, Filipinos with money to save may no longer trust the banking system.

"This will negate our capital formation efforts and programs to encourage our people to save," they said.

They noted that even before the failure of Urban Bank and, before it, Orient Bank, the Philippines was already one of the countries in Asia with poor savings rates.

Zubiri stressed that increasing the level of insured bank deposits five-fold would not be a big financial burden on the banking system.