EARLY next year, most overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) can send their remittances to their families in the country in seconds, and with cheaper rate compared with other remittance centers.

This will be made possible by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., (Pagcor) donation of at least P20 million to the Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) for the improvement of the latter’s information-technology infrastructure.

Postmaster General Hector Villanueva said in an interview that PhilPost will use the money to buy computers to develop its remittance service to at least 100 post offices nationwide, including cities and municipalities in Metro Manila, Davao, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga, among others.

“We handle 1 million letters a day. Many of the letters contain small denominations of foreign currency. [Through the Pagcor donation] we will purchase P20 million worth of hardware, accessories and software to computerize 100 post offices in major provincial cities in and outside the metropolis,” Villanueva said at the sidelines of PhilPost’s 111th
anniversary celebration at Manila Central Post Office.

Villanueva said they plan to fully implement the project in January.

PhilPost Assistant Postmaster General Elizabeth Tungol said OFWs working in any of their partner-countries like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Mongolia can send money to their families in the Philippines electronically, faster and with lower rates.

“[The] remittance fee [is cheaper]. We only charge by one-fourth or one-fifth compared to other firms. Once we have developed our infrastructure, one advantage that we have is our being a low-cost provider, and the other is our vast network,” Tungol added partly in Filipino.

The remittance service will cater to both domestic transfer and international remittances.

OFWs can visit any PhilPost branch abroad to send remittances. Once the teller receives the money, the teller enrolls the remitter and his or her beneficiaries and remits the money using the ePost Remittance via Internet.

The remittance can be delivered to any PhilPost or Philippine Postal Savings Bank branch locally, and in 20 to 30 minutes the OFW families can claim the money.

There are 2,300 post offices nationwide.