by dr. marilette almayda, deped director for learning delivery and the screening committee who went through voluminous nomination documents and visited each of our finalists from all over the country. moving forward, i hope that the ties that bind us to our common goal will continue to nurture a new generation of financially educated and included young citizens. to us at the bangko sentral and the deped, financial education is important and necessary. the ability to handle one ’ s finances properly is a lifelong skill one must have to be a responsible and successful adult. the ideal place to start is in schools where children are learning and developing what could be lifelong habits on spending, saving and earning money. we all know the phrase, “ our children are the future of our nation. ” to us, this is not rhetoric. it is a truth and it gives us a sense of purpose and urgency. this has given impetus to our joint programs. in fact, our efforts have caught the attention of finance education advocates in other countries. in 2013, the netherlands - based child and youth finance international which is at the forefront of a global campaign to promote finance education and savings gave us the country award for having the best finance education and savings program. they were curious and actually wondered how we were able to work with our department of education to teach financial lessons as part of the curriculum as well as to inspire our biggest banks to welcome kids to open accounts with them with deposits of less than us $ 3. 00 at that time. let us therefore thank the deped and our banks for their strong support and for being on the same page with us. ladies and gentlemen. the timing of this year ’ s awards ceremony is fitting as it falls at the culmination of global money week. this is a worldwide celebration that aims to create greater 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches consciousness among children and youth about proper handling of money and how it can help them secure a brighter future. i am pleased to share that in november 2016, our participation in global money week was acknowledged by child and youth finance international as among the best in asia. under this, pupils interacted with those from other local schools and with their counterparts from brunei and russia through video conferencing and social media chats to share their views and practices on saving and handling money. our students were enthusiastic and proud for being part of a “ cool ” global community of savers. it is our hope that through our continuing joint programs

amando m tetangco, jr : empowering entrepreneurs through responsive microfinance programs speech by mr amando m tetangco, jr, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), at the 2013 citi microentrepreneurship awards ( cma ) awarding ceremonies, manila, 3 december 2013. * * * magandang hapon sa inyong lahat! we are gathered once again to celebrate a happy event : the awarding of our top achievers in the philippine microfinance sector. i can tell you that it took a lot of work : we had to go through evaluation, discussions and validation. but in the end, we are very pleased that we continue to see many inspiring success stories of filipino microentrepreneurs. let us therefore acknowledge all those involved in this citi microentrepreneurship award : citi philippines represented by country officer batara sianturi ; microfinance council of the philippines ( mcpi ) represented by chairman mila banker ; the officers and staff of the bangko sentral ng pilipinas ; and finally, our amazing and committed members of the board of judges under the national selection committee which include : mr. batara sianturi, mr. antonino alindogan, jr. and ms. marixi rufino - prieto. atty felipe gozon is represented by ms. teresita pacis of gma. we also acknowledge the presence of mr. michael zink, head of asean and singapore country officer of citi, as well as mbm felipe medalla, adviser to the bsp microfinance committee. and most of all, we congratulate all the finalists and all the winners of the 2013 citi microentrepreneurship awards for continuing to surprise us with your creativity, your discipline, and your humility even as you achieve your goals in the face of many challenges that come your way. congratulations po sa inyong lahat. through you, we are reassured again and again that microfinance is a viable option for entrepreneurial pinoys. eleven years na po tayo and counting. our family of awardees keep growing and you continue to make us proud. ipinagma - malaki namin kayo. dahil po dito, we continue to find ways to enhance our annual awards program. this year for instance, we