Mayor Vico Sotto Advocates for Financial Literacy Among Kids in Pasig

In Pasig, the alarming number of people who are broke, in debt, or are unable to pay their bills remains a concerning issue for Mayor Vico Sotto which he hopes to address through better financial literacy.

“Sometimes when I sit down and talk to them, I realize that they shouldn’t have been in this situation if only they managed their finances properly; if only they had the discipline to save; if only they budgeted and wrote down how much their expenses are, how much their income is, and how much they can spend for other things,” explained Sotto.

“If they just did the basic things that are in the workbook in the program—what they taught the kids, it wouldn’t have happened,” he added, referring to Manulife’s Peso Smart financial literacy program.

Recently, over 100 public school students accomplished the “Peso Smart x RecoveREADS” distance learning program, which is the first financial literacy program for children in Pasig City.

Students were given Peso Smart learning kits containing modules to teach kids the basics of saving, budgeting, and investing with an activity journal. It also includes Peso Smart storybooks to make lessons more fun while also promoting interactions between kids and parents at home.

“The role of financial literacy is critical as it instills financial discipline to help you make informed decisions, lead better lives, and even thrive in a crisis. So, we need to start early in teaching children smart money habits, because it makes a big difference in the kind of future they will build,” said Sotto.

When Peso Smart started in 2017, it used to be a weekly classroom program where volunteer employees from Manulife taught public school students. The transition to a distance learning program was mainly due to the global pandemic. In Pasig, the program was launched in August 2020 and ran for around 10 months.

Source: Inquirer