The Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), in collaboration with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Bicol Region and Camarines Sur Provincial Information Center, conducted the regional pilot run for 2025 of its flagship media education initiative, PDIC 101: Understanding Deposit Insurance. The initiative, held in Villa Caceres, Naga City, Camarines Sur, marks the first of several sessions planned nationwide for 2025.
Designed to deepen public awareness and confidence in the financial system, PDIC 101 aims to equip local media professionals with a clearer understanding of the important role deposit insurance plays in safeguarding the public’s hard-earned savings. It also highlights the PDIC’s multifaceted mandate as the state deposit insurer, co-regulator of banks, and statutory receiver of closed banks.
Since 2024, the PDIC and PIA have been working in partnership to expand public access to financial information, particularly on the benefits of saving with banks and the protection deposit insurance offers. By engaging the media, the PDIC hopes to extend this vital message to wider communities across the country.
During the session, PDIC Vice President Jose G. Villaret, Jr. (Corporate Affairs Group), led a dynamic discussion with representatives from television, radio, print, and online media. VP Villaret underscored the PDIC’s core functions and highlighted the enhanced maximum deposit insurance coverage (MDIC) of P1 million per depositor, per bank, which took effect on March 15, 2025.
“With the new MDIC now in place, we are intensifying our outreach to ensure depositors understand the expanded protection available to them and to encourage others to begin saving in banks,” VP Villaret said.
The initiative seeks to empower the media to act as informed partners in promoting financial literacy, ensuring that public discourse on deposit insurance and financial stability remains clear and accurate. PDIC 101 is also scheduled within the year to engage local media in the Visayas and Mindanao.
As the state deposit insurer, the PDIC protects depositors by providing coverage up to P1 million per depositor, per bank. It also manages the Deposit Insurance Fund, the fund source for payment of deposit insurance in the event of bank closures. In its role as co-regulator, the Corporation works closely with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and financial regulators to reinforce financial stability. When a bank is ordered closed by the BSP, the PDIC assumes responsibility as statutory liquidator that entails the management of the closed bank’s liquidation process by way of recovering assets through disposal activities and loan collections from borrowers. Liquidation aims to maximize recovery from closed banks’ assets to increase the chances that claims of closed banks’ creditors and uninsured depositors will be settled.
Through education and collaboration, the PDIC continues to play a vital role in protecting depositors and maintaining public confidence in the country’s financial stability.
For more information on the PDIC and deposit insurance, the public is encouraged to visit the PDIC website, www.pdic.gov.ph and its official Facebook page, www.facebook.com/OfficialPDIC. (PDIC)
