DepEd Central Office personnel from the different support units participated in City Savings Bank’s Project Peraparasyon last May 19. With them are CitySavings Chairman of the Board Eugene Acevedo (back row, center), EVP – Channel Management Levi Villanueva (front row, seventh from left), and Reputation Management Head Paula Viegelmann-Ruelan (leftmost).
contributed photo
A total of 25 Department of Education (DepEd) Central Office personnel from different support units participated in City Savings Bank’s Project Peraparasyon last May 19.
The term is derived from the amalgamation of the words “pera” and “preparasyon” translated as “money” and “preparation” respectively, and is designed to enhance the public school teaching and nonteaching knowledge on practical wealth management.
In his opening remarks, CitySavings Chairman of the Board Eugene Acevedo said, “Our objective is not just to be in this business but really to elevate people’s lives. You see, if we don’t do that, there’s no purpose in being a banker.”
Another nugget of wisdom he shared was “You have to put your money in something that will grow at a pace greater than 5 percent or 6 percent because if you only put your money in time deposits, then you only make one and a half, you will not be able to cope with even the ordinary cost of living. The only instrument that can give you that are equities, trust funds and mutual funds.”
Facilitated by CitySavings EVP – Channel Management Levi Villanueva, he emphasized that the program aims to show in simple terms “how to achieve financial wellness through fiscal prudence.”
He further mentioned that “wealth management is all about changing your mind-set. Spending less does not mean less quality of life.”
“I found the presentation meaningful and practical especially the tips on how to manage income vs expenses,” mentioned DepEd Chief Admin Officer Marcos Rodil after he attended Project Peraparasyon.
DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Victoria Catibog shared, “More than 23,000 of our retirees — both teachers and non-teaching staff — were not able to get anything from their retirement because they had unpaid loans, and I think it’s because of poor financial literacy. So I said to CitySavings, is it possible that aside from the products that you offer, can you also teach them how to manage their finances? That’s why they came up with this initiative especially for DepEd.”
Since April 2016, City Savings Bank has trained over 15,000 teaching and nonteaching DepEd personnel nationwide on how to manage their wealth in a practical manner. The program has specifically reached 10,748 beneficiaries in Luzon, 2,900 in Visayas and 1,413 in Mindanao. /PR