THE GOVERNMENT’S Premyo bonds were met with strong demand as orders went over the initial P3-billion offer, with the Treasury likely to continue offering the securities until Friday.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told reporters on Tuesday that so far, they have accepted a total of P3.68 billion orders of the one-year Premyo bonds it launched last Nov. 25, prompting the government to upsize its initial offer of P3 billion.

“(We accepted) for today ’yung P732 million. We accepted that and we’re still open until Friday. ’Yan ’yung (Those are the) orders for yesterday (Monday, because) there’s a one-day lag. We only get the actual orders the day after,” Ms. De Leon explained.

She said the bonds logged the highest daily sale on Monday at P732 million, which pushed the aggregate amount to P3.86 billion the following day.

“The remainder, P680 million, kasi di ba (because we have a target of) P3 billion…so we have accepted ’yung (the) residual (of) P3 billion and until Friday naman (the offer period is until Friday) so we’ll see,” she said.

The official said they will likely continue accepting bids until the end of the offer period on Friday as they want to accommodate individuals who want to invest.

However, she said the committee has yet to decide if the offer period will be cut short or not as they also have to consider other factors.

“We’ll see (if we will cut the offer period). Kasi you wanted them to invest then you’re cutting that chance, di ba,” she said.

“What’s more encouraging is because maraming (there are a lot of) individuals who participated, you get them to move to government securities,” she said.

The government launched the Premyo bonds last month to urge small investors to invest in state securities for as low as P500.

The offer has a minimum investment of P500 — significantly lower compared to the usual P5,000 — for a one-year bond with an interest rate of three percent per annum to be paid quarterly.

Every P500 worth of investment has a corresponding raffle ticket for the quarterly draws where they can win up to P1 million in cash as well as other non-cash prizes including condominium units.

The offer period runs from Nov. 25 to Dec. 13.

Investors can acquire the bonds through the online platform and over the counter in authorized selling agents.

Selling agents for the transactions are BDO Unibank, Inc.; BDO Capital and Investment Corp.; China Banking Corp.; China Bank Capital Corp.; Development Bank of the Philippines; First Metro Investment Corp.; Land Bank of the Philippines; and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. — Beatrice M. Laforga

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