Single multi-currency account for Pinoy donors abroad eyed

MANILA, Philippines - The government is working on a single multi-currency account where Filipinos abroad can deposit donations for Yolanda victims, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday.

He said such facility – whose launch would be announced later – is designed to ease the flow of cash assistance from overseas Filipino workers or from small Filipino organizations.

In the meantime, migrant workers can go to any Philippine embassy and make contributions, the records of which would be posted on FAiTH or the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub.

“Make the contribution to this particular single multi-currency treasury account, get a receipt of that donation, and then see that donation uploaded in FAiTH, and then get a regular update on the use of those funds. So that’s how this site will operate,” Abad said.

The portal will be managed by a steering committee composed of and jointly chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the DBM.  Officials directly in charge of the system are DFA Undersecretary Cecile Rebong and DBM Undersecretary Von Moya.

The other committee members are the Bureau of Treasury, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Presidential Management Staff, and the Presidential Communications Development, Strategic Planning Office. Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, who chairs the Open Data Task Force, will also be the committee spokesperson.