PSE prods companies to support PERA

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December 15, 2025 | 12:00am

Leading by example

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) is poised to lead by example in the hope of encouraging listed companies to have a Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) program.

“PSE is going to have a PERA. Our employees will have a PERA program starting next year. Nobody understands yet the PERA, so we want to really spearhead that,” PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon told The STAR.

“We will spearhead this as the exchange. We will show the listed companies that if the exchange, which is not a big company, can do PERA, they can do PERA also,” he said.

PERA, created under Republic Act 9505, is a voluntary retirement savings program available to the public, in addition to existing retirement benefits from the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System and employer-sponsored plans.

It offers contributors tax benefits not available in other retirement investment products to encourage Filipinos to save for their future.

The enactment of Republic Act 12214, or the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act (CMEPA), has made PERA more attractive.

The new law is seen attracting more Filipinos to increase their retirement funds through PERA by enabling employers to claim an additional 50 percent tax deduction for PERA contributions, provided they match or exceed the employee’s contribution.

“One of the nice features of CMEPA was the increase in tax deduction for companies that contribute to the PERA account,” Monzon said.

Monzon said he is keen on pushing PERA because of the numerous benefits it provides companies.

He said one of its advantages is that a company can use it as a retention tool for employees.

“On the company’s side, what’s your benefit? You are able to use PERA as a client retention. So it’s a good retention tool versus a company that has no PERA,” Monzon said.

On the PSE’s end, he said that the contributions of its employees would be invested in the stock market.

“I mean not all, since some may want fixed income, but a lot of these may be invested in dividend-paying stocks. So that’s going to add to our liquidity. So hopefully that will increase the volume and the liquidity of the market,” the PSE chief said.

“The savings rate of Filipinos is low. While the savings rate of Americans is also low, what really drives other markets like the US is their 401K and their retirement plans are big. So much liquidity is being poured into the market. That’s what we need also,” he said.

The PSE said PERA provides alternative investment opportunities for all, similar to what is known in the US as the 401K and Individual Retirement Account.

“And third and most important… for employees is that they have something to look forward to. They will have forced savings. So those are the benefits (of PERA). That’s why I said I am so convinced that we will do this for the PSE starting 2026,” Monzon said.