COLUMN | A future not worth saving

Jun Marwin Hangad

What was once a promise to a better future is starting to feel like a betrayal.

Day and night, without time wasted, Filipinos work tirelessly, and with their hard-earned money, it's a thing to save for the future. Whether working in the corporate, academe, or in a small business, depositing money in the bank symbolizes security and responsibility. But with the new economic strategy intensified under the Marcos Administration, the intent of saving for the future is compromised, especially since most Filipinos are still grappling with financial stability.

Last July 1, the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act (CMEPA) officially took full effect. Authored and sponsored in the Senate by Senator Win Gatchalian, Chair of the Committee on Ways & Means and a vocal proponent of tax and investment reforms, the new economic policy aims to develop the country's financial instruments, attract potential investors, enhance retail activities, and change the country's capital market by applying the ASEAN and global standards, specifically the ASEAN Green, Social, and Sustainability Bond Standards, which promote transparency and accountability in financing responsible investments.

However, one of the law's primary provisions, which stirred a huge buzz among Filipinos, was the standardized 20% final withholding tax on interest from all deposit and investment instruments (e.g., long‑term bank deposits, trust funds, FCDUs). This removes the previous preferential exemptions, wherein long-term savings were tax-free.

Even if the cut applies only to interest earned, it still feels like a slap in the face to Filipinos whose dreams of financial freedom were built on sacrifice and honest work. Those savings were not just ordinary investments for healthcare, education, or for vacation, but a sacrifice to live a third-world life 'worthwhile and stable' in the long run.

Plea from the middle class

For many middle-class Filipinos, this law feels like a penalty for doing the right thing—saving. They’re not asking for luxury, just some dignity in aging, in sending their children to school, or in surviving illnesses without debt. In essence, the middle class is not just a demographic— they are the country’s workforce. 

What hurts more is that these are the very people the government should be supporting, the ones who shoulder taxes, keep businesses running, and uphold institutions. Yet, their sacrifices are increasingly treated as taxable gains, while large corporations often find legal loopholes to minimize their obligations. This has always been the case; ordinary citizens are left weighing the burdens, meanwhile the government enables the private sector to bypass their responsibilities. For instance, the recent signing of the digital tax law which eventually curtail the productivity of every individual who wants to subscribe to basic online platforms. It now feels like whatever you do—whether you're earning or spending—you're being taxed at every turn.

Despite economic reforms, the Philippines still lags in ASEAN

Even with the reforms under CMEPA and similar laws before, the Philippines remains behind its ASEAN neighbors in inclusive financial growth. In countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, long-term savings are incentivized, not taxed, recognizing the people’s role in economic resilience, Although the country is much different from their systems, they share a common ground as developing, labor-centered economies being pressured by regional and global markets, thus they had to promote policies that would really benefit even the ordinary workers. Sadly, the government is doing it the other way around, and that is what still makes the country behind among its neighbors.

Foreign investors might be lured with promises of market stability, just as the administration is bullish over its investment pledges, but when a country’s people are demotivated to save, that’s a shaky foundation. After all, sustainable economic growth doesn’t rely on foreign capital alone — it depends on a financially secure and confident population that actively participates in the economy. If ordinary citizens lose the drive to save or invest, the internal market weakens, consumer spending slows down, and the very stability being promised to investors becomes hollow. Reforms that forget the human cost are reforms that won’t last. And now, we are seeing the protest of every common Filipino fighting to meet their ends, visualizing the economic situation as deplorable and ultimately absurd. 

A future not worth saving—for whom?

We’re told these changes are for modernization, to help the underdeveloped economic state, and for a future where the country thrives in a global economy. But if that future excludes the very hands that built it—teachers, vendors, engineers, caregivers—then who is it really for?

We are now seeing a future that is not worth saving. Sadly, it's easy for the government to impose such policies. Easy to the extent they overlook the real struggle, the grind, the narratives of exploitation, which are all happening on the ground. The new law might be beyond our control, but it doesn't mean we're left completely without options. I'm confident that there's still the power of the people to express their sentiments, to collectively call out and pressure those in the higher ups. Our actions, like choosing where we spend and save, can still send a message. It’s not always about grand gestures, but sometimes, it starts with refusing to normalize what’s unfair.

The Filipinos’ future is not built in stocks and bonds alone, but in their savings accounts, their sari-sari stores, their balikbayan boxes, and their children’s tuition. If those are taxed and dismissed, then maybe it’s not the future we need, but a system that remembers why people save in the first place.