. ladies and gentlemen. the overall success of financial and economic education rests on the concerted efforts of the bsp, our educators and our partners in the private sector. aside from the various programs and initiatives of the bsp, our contributions to this advocacy lie in providing support to similar efforts of individual organizations. that is why we are particularly happy to host this awards night, together with finex and citi foundation. both the private sector, as well as the bsp, stand to gain from a citizenry that better understands economics and finance, and we pledge our support to programs and initiatives that will help us attain this end. for finex and citi foundation, we look forward to building upon our collaboration and partnerships in the area of promoting financial and economic education. for our educators, nominees and winners all, i salute you for your dedication to an ideal that we at the bsp and the banking community as a whole, hold dear. i know that you do all these things not for personal glory or monetary reward. however, your actions should be recognized because they serve to inspire others to do better and to continue the work at hand. i challenge our educators to develop new and innovative methods of reaching our students, and to continue to inspire and enkindle in the hearts of the youth, the thirst and zest for knowledge you hope to impart. once again, thank you for your dedication and congratulations to our winners! mabuhay ang pilipinas! salamat sa inyong lahat.

. the importance of education to one ’ s financial future highlights the need to start the process of education as early as possible. many of you here are parents like myself. so i ’ m sure many of us would also be happy to see our children learn the importance of saving, investment and budgeting, as well as other aspects of personal financial management, to set them on the right path to a secure and stable financial future. on the macroeconomic level, financial education also ensures the efficient transmission of macroeconomic policies. it also facilitates the anchoring of expectations as the public is better able to understand and respond to policy actions of the various economic agencies of the government and the bangko sentral. it is for these reasons that the bangko sentral and many other central banks in the world consider economic and financial education as a key advocacy. the private sector also plays a major role in raising the general level of financial and economic education. tonight ’ s awarding ceremony to honor our outstanding finance educators is a testament to the commitment of our organizers, finex and citi foundation, to this advocacy. in particular, finex has been at the very forefront of the development and advancement of knowledge and skills related to the financial field. on the other hand, citi foundation is proactive in its own educational campaign to help consumers better understand credit, savings and investment. we are, therefore, natural partners in broadening the reach of our economic and financial education programs. i look forward to an ever - expanding network of similar - minded individuals and institutions who will cooperate with us to reach out to broader segments of our society : from school children, students, young adults and professionals, overseas filipinos, and members of the business sector, academe, media and public service. to those who wish to identify possible areas of cooperation with the bangko sentral, our initiatives include the launching of economic and financial learning centers in different regions ; out - reach programs to teach financial management to overseas filipinos and their families ; in - house education activities to enhance economic education even among bsp staff ; advocacy of microfinance as a tool for poverty alleviation for entrepreneurially - inclined but capital - challenged filipinos ; in partnership with the department of education the integration of savings and money management lessons in the grade school curriculum ; and teaching the value of small things including the barya for wealth creation through fund - raising projects such as the award - winning tulong barya para sa eskwela