THE government should match the money sent by Filipinos overseas to boost the country’s ability to survive a crisis, former Social Security System chief Corazon de la Paz-Bernardo said.

“The steady growth of OFW [overseas Filipino worker] remittances should be complemented by a public investment program that is hinged on improving a major infrastructure base such as road and even mass-transport systems,” said de la Paz-Bernardo, currently president of the International Social Security Association (Issa). She spoke during a forum on government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) on Wednesday.

She cited her experience as SSS for seven years on how state-owned enterprises could wield institutional leverage in view of the collapse of the global financial system.

“With financial markets continuing to unravel close to two years since the recession, the domestic economy has become heavily reliant on remittances,” she said.

De la Paz-Bernardo said the money generated by remittances of an estimated 8.7 million Filipinos overseas add on to resources generated by “the excess liquidity due to a resilient banking system.”

She said it is “imperative,” hence, to mobilize these resources “if the nation seeks to survive the crisis.”

The resources stem from the money sent by these Filipinos. At $11.3 billion in the first eight months of this year, de la Paz-Bernardo said it is equivalent to about 6 percent of the Philippines’ nominal gross national product.

The pension-fund manager’s financial health is a key to using these resources as SSS’s ability to buy fixed-income instruments such as treasury notes and treasury bills. These, in turn, she said, are used “to fund the construction of vital public infrastructure such as roads, bridges, irrigation and dams.”

She recalled that “SSS loan programs were instituted as a response to clamor for greater public-sector support to nurture these industries which have the greatest potential to generate immediate employment, fuel growth, and create value and wealth especially for the poor.”

However, de la Paz-Bernardo said despite the SSS’s improved financial condition—it posted a surplus of P7 billion for the first half of the year—the pension-fund manager is still facing “the challenge of confronting a rapidly evolving global economic landscape.”

She emphasized that maximizing the potentials of remittances could help the SSS face this challenge.