MANILA, Philippines--The declared vision of Pioneer Life Inc., a member of the Pioneer group of insurance companies, is to be a ?model Filipino company.?

To achieve that lofty goal, Pioneer believes it is imperative that it touches the lives of a ?significant? segment of Philippine society.

And what could be more significant than the estimated two million documented overseas Filipino workers in 220 countries who, combined with Filipinos permanently residing overseas, send home over $17 billion a year in remittances?

This desire to make a difference in the lives of OFWs gave rise to Pioneer Life?s groundbreaking Pamilyang OFW Savers and Wellness Club.

The Club was created together with the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to encourage OFWs and their families to manage hard-earned money wisely. By doing so, OFWs will be able to go back home early and be reunited with their families.

Litany of woes

According to Lorenzo O. Chan, Pioneer Life president and CEO, the company zeroed in on OFWs because it wanted to help put an end to the litany of woes expressed by OFWs who come home with nothing significant to show for their years of toil in foreign countries.

?The mismanagement of funds is a common problem among OFWs,? Chan tells the Inquirer. ?Many of these OFWs end up with little or no savings.?

?Migrant workers usually leave the Philippines with huge debts. While they may earn a higher than average income abroad, if they mismanage it, they return to their families as financially disadvantaged as when they left the country,? adds Pioneer Life SVP Fernando Berba.

But with the OFW program, Pioneer Life sees the campaign to ?build a nation of savers? taking root.

The club was formally launched in July 2009 and has been introduced in six CBCP dioceses and has some 900 registered members. OFWs and their dependents may join the club for a membership fee of P400 for children and P500 for adults.

As members of the club, OFWs and their families are entitled to such benefits as participation in financial literacy workshops, high interest rates on their savings, personal accident insurance, cash burial assistance, life insurance and discounts or freebies from partners such as McDonald?s and Enchanted Kingdom.

According to Fr. Edwin D. Corros, executive secretary of ECMI-CBCP, introducing OFWs and their families to such basic concepts as regularly setting aside a portion of earnings in a savings account, keeping track of expenses and managing debt is a must if OFWs want to have a better life.

Affordable products

In response to the clamor among OFWs for an investment product that they can afford, Pioneer has developed special Sparxx microinsurance products that guarantee club members both savings and insurance coverage of as much as P50,000 in burial cash assistance and P100,000 accidental death and disability benefit.

Corros says that more than half of these OFWs are in low-paying jobs, and they have no idea about savings and investments, thus requiring an earnest effort to teach them to save, especially since not all migrants return home financially successful.

According to a survey cited by Pioneer, the main reasons why OFWs set aside money are to cover for emergencies and provide for the education of their children. This means that they do not save for the long term?only 3.4 percent of OFWs surveyed said that they save to go into business or buy land.

Added boost

Convincing OFWs and their families to take a more long-term view is what Pioneer and ECMI-CBCP want to achieve with the program, which is expanding rapidly in terms of reach.

Providing an added boost is the innovation grant worth about P4 million that the International Labor Orgnization recently awarded to Pioneer Life, making it one of 20 grantees chosen from more than 200 applicants.

The innovation grants under the ILO?s Microinsurance Innovation Facility are designed to help institutions develop new microinsurance projects?such as Pioneer Life?s Sparxx?to benefit low-income policyholders.

Pioneer Life is confident that the grant will allow the company and CBCP to hasten the rollout so that more OFW families will become adept at handling their finances.