Weak peso drives Filipinos to remittance companies

Deeper plunge of the Philippine currency caused by political instability in the country, is driving Filipinos in the Northern Marianas to sending out more greenback to relatives back home in order to maximize their dollar’s increasing value against the peso.

Still, remittance executives believe a good number of Filipino workers here continue to hold their dollars tight in anticipation of the further decline of the peso’s value especially when clamor for President Estrada’s resignation intensifies as impeachment trial approaches.

Government records disclosed Filipinos continue to hold the largest market for the Commonwealth’s foreign exchange industry as they sent out more than $36 million in total greenback to the Philippines in the first nine months of the year.

Remittances to the Philippines soared five percent this year from the past three quarters of 1999’s total of about $34 million, according to the Quarterly Remittance Report prepared by Jesse Palacios of the commerce department’s Banking Division.

An indication of the growing demand for remittance services by the Filipino community on the islands, two companies that exclusively cater to this sector began operation during the third quarter of the year.

Winfield Corporation began accepting remittance transactions from a good slice of the Filipino community on Saipan in the third quarter of the year, sending close to $350,000 in total greenback to the Philippines in its first three months of operation.

Entry of Winfield Corp. into the money-transfer sector brought to 13 the total number of remittance companies serving about 40,000 nonresident workers throughout the Northern Marianas, indicating continued growth in the sector.

Of the 13 remittance companies in the CNMI, at least 10 exclusively cater to Filipino workers who comprise almost half of the total population of nonresidents in the Northern Marianas.

In August, U.S.-based UniTeller commenced remittance operations between Saipan and the Philippines, making it the ninth company in the roster of existing money-transfer companies providing services to the Filipino community on the islands.

Of these 10 remittance companies, however, Asia Pacific Corporation has yet to start operations although it has already secured its permit to do business since the beginning of the year, according to the Banking and Insurance Division of the commerce department.

Bigger volume of workers from the Philippines have reportedly been trooping remittance centers since the peso started slipping beyond P45 per $1 early this year. Remittance companies witnessed an even bigger number of Filipinos sending out more greenback when the peso slid to almost P50 per dollar.

Mainly because of the Asian financial turmoil, aggravated by the current political situation in the Philippines with the president facing an impeachment trial and hordes of mass actions, the value of the American currency has escalated from only P28 per dollar in 1996 to almost P50 for every dollar today.