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MANILA, Philippines — With more Filipinos now putting their money in banks, Sen. Sonny Angara wants to hike the deposit insurance coverage provided by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) from the present P500,000 to P1 million per depositor.

Under Senate Bill 2089, Angara pushed for further amendments to the charter of the PDIC in order to make the agency more responsive to the constantly changing financial landscape in the country.

Foremost among the proposed amendments is the increase in the deposit insurance coverage of PDIC to P1 million from the present P500,000.

“It is encouraging to note that more and more Filipinos are now saving money by depositing these in our banks. In order to further boost their confidence in the banking system, especially during these very challenging times, we are proposing to increase by 100 percent the deposit insurance coverage,” Angara said.

Based on data from the PDIC as of Sept. 30, 2020, 96.7 percent or 76.1 million of the 78.7 million total deposit accounts maintained in 537 banks nationwide are now fully insured.

This was an increase of 11.8 percent from the 68.1 million recorded over the same period in 2019.

PDIC also reported a double-digit growth of 11.7 percent in the number of total deposit accounts in banks nationwide. Total deposit amount grew 9.5 percent year-on-year from P13.1 trillion to P14.3 trillion.

Angara’s father, the late former Senate president Edgardo Angara, spearheaded the approval of Republic Act 9576 in 2009, which implemented the last increase in the deposit insurance coverage from P250,000 to P500,000.

Under the bill, the maximum deposit insurance coverage is subject to review by the PDIC board of directors every three years and may be increased to an amount indexed to inflation or other economic indicators as may be deemed appropriate by the board.

To avoid an overlap in functions between the PDIC and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), as the regulator of the country’s banking system, the bill modifies certain powers of the state deposit insurer.