INSIDE THE IND​US​TRY: EPISODE 34 

Public Education and Finances 

With Sun Pera-Aralan 
 
 
Pawi 
Hi I’m Pawi and you’re listening to Rappler Podcasts. You’re listening to Hustle’s Inside the 
Industry, where we talk to professionals and find out how they got here, why they’re doing what 
they do and what it takes to do it. This is Pawi from Rappler’s Hustle team and today, we 
continue our three-part series with Sun Life as we feature guests that have a lot to share about 
personal finance and personal ambitions. This partnership with Sun Life is part of their financial 
literacy campaign to help empower Filipinos to rise above COVID-19.  
 
In our first episode, we spoke with financial advisor and entrepreneur, Zzlleenn Lee. Now our 
series goes from private enterprise to public education. For this episode, we have Sun Life’s Sun 
Pera-Aralan program. To tell us more about it, we have TJ Agulto of AHA Behavioural Design, 
teacher Jennifer Carrion of Industrial Valley Elementary School and Tin Meliete of Sun Life 
Foundation. Welcome, everyone! 
 
TJ, Jennifer and Tin 
Thank you. Thanks for having us. 
 
Pawi 
What is Sun Pera-Aralan? 
 
Tin 
Sun Pera-Aralan is a behaviour-based financial management program, which makes use of a 
very simple tool, a peso sobre, in helping public school teachers manage their budget and 
extend their salary until the next payday and eventually, lessen indebtedness. It’s a program of 
Sun Life Foundation, this is specifically tailored for our dearest educators from the public school 
sector. Apart from engaging the teachers, it also provides volunteer advisors, whom they can 
consult for free as well as a Facebook community where they can share their experiences.  
 
Pawi 
That sounds like a good way to utilize the Sun Life workforce; your advisors are engaged in both 
professional and philanthropic activities. For teacher Jennifer, as a beneficiary of the program, 
how did you discover and join Pera-Aralan and how many public school teachers are in the 
program?  
 
 
 
Jennifer 
I learned about this last year; they explained the importance of financial literacy. We were the 
first school in Marikina na binigyan nila ng ganitong meeting. Lahat ng teachers sa Industrial 
Valley, nabigyan ng peso sobre.  
 
Pawi 
You’ve been using this tool for a while, no?  
 
Jennifer 
Actually, during the first two months, di ko siya pinansin (laughs), di ko talaga binuksan. And 
then nakita ko yung anak ko pinaglalaruan niya tapos sabi niya na let’s try to budget our money 
Sabi ko let’s try tapos ayon, nagtuloty-tuloy na.  
 
Pawi 
That’s a good segue to TJ. How did you come up with this idea in the first place? What specific 
problem did you see in the market?  
 
TJ 
In the old Makati Stock Exchange Starbucks, Tin asked me for a different approach to financial 
literacy. There have been many programs out there but how can Sun Life come up with 
something different? As part of AHA Behavioural Design, we’re the first company to apply the 
principles of behavioural economics to a lot of development problems in the Philippines.  
 
Tin 
When I joined the foundation, I was asked to come up with a flagship financial literacy program 
and that time, we were looking at several segments. We didn’t want to come up with just the 
usual programs, we realized that there are a lot of those available already but the problem is still 
there. We wanted to study the behaviour of teachers and provide them the right kind of help and 
something to not add to their burden.  
 
Pawi 
On that note, let’s hear from our teacher here. How were you managing your finances prior to all 
this? What were your struggles in doing so?  
 
Jennifer 
Before, kami yung tinatawag na “London” - loan dito, loan doon (laughs). Bakit ba nagloloan 
yung teachers? Hindi para sa sarili eh, para sa mga bata. Before sobrang struggle, walang goal. 
Alam mo lang makakain ka at maprovide mo yung mga kailangan ng anak mo. Utang dito, utang 
doon.  
 
Nakakila namin yung Sun Pera-Aralan at nag-explain sila, doon ko narealize na kailangan ko. 
Naturuan talaga ako, how to budget every week. Narealize kong kailangan ko mag-save, ayoko 
nang pumila sa health center. That’s why sobrang thankful ako na nakilala ko sila. I’m a solo 
parent, sobrang struggle talaga before.  
 
Pawi 
Overall this is long-term thinking; we have to look forward to longevity. I want to move the 
discussion to the present. In light of the pandemic, are you finding your clients treating their 
financial planning more seriously?  
 
Tin 
The beauty of this program is that we maintain our community through Facebook, where 
everybody is. We are able to monitor them. We’ve had conversations with them, we’ve been able 
to gather updates. We found out that, during the pandemic, they were able to use the peso 
sobre. A lot of them were saying that they were very grateful. We all had to think about how 
we’re going to adjust so this tool really helped them manage their finances better.  
 
This is why we’re doing what we do; it’s not just some module or seminar. The beauty of this is 
that it’s simple and actionable.  
 
TJ 
Aside from being practical, targeted and behaviour-based, Sun Life Foundation has rolled this up 
last year and has reached 10, 224 public school teachers. Can you imagine the reach? Since it’s 
behaviour-based, it’s not disruptive to the already loaded schedules of teachers. Here, we 
embed the tool in their natural routines - that’s why it’s cost effective.  
 
Pawi 
Can you outline the specific ways your current usage of the tool have helped you navigate 
through this pandemic?  
 
Jennifer 
Every pay day, I have to make sure na each week may budget ako. Sa last sobre, andun yung 
savings. I make sure na nabubudget ko yung pera ko per week. Natuto akong bilhin lang kung 
ano ang kailangan.  
 
Pawi 
Can you tell us what it’s like to be a teacher right now? How are you operating?  
 
Jennifer 
Mas mahirap ngayon, mas mahirap sa amin. We have to make sure na we have an internet 
conenction and gadgets for our pupils. Pag-gagather pa lang para sa isang section, 
napaka-hirap. We have to consider the data privacy of the pupils as well. We can’t locate them 
easily. May mga pupils kami na hindi nag-enroll kasi wala silang gadgets.  
 
Pawi 
I understand that AHA does a bunch of behavioural projects. Can you tell us how AHA has been 
catering to some pandemic specific scenarios?  
 
TJ 
With Sun Pera-Aralan, we’ve been rolling this out since last year. When we’re able to nudge a 
specific behaviour like budgeting in their homes, it grows to other behaviours. With the 
behaviours that Jennifer mentioned like prioritizing, we didn’t teach those explicitly. Those just 
came out because that’s the nature of behavior. We didn’t even tell them to save because the 
reality is there’s not enough money for them. But because it’s grounded on empathy, what we 
tell them is to make sure that their budget can stretch until the end of the month. We’re 
passionate about statistically measuring the impact of the intervention. We were surprised that 
there was a monthly average savings of PHP 3,190.  
 
We’re also applying a lot of behavioural economics in other designs and one of which is a 
hospital professional, where we want to help them with resiliency. Our frontliners are so tired 
and we’ve been doing the research for the past month to help them keep their mental health.  
 
Pawi 
The common perception with saving is that something you need but your approach is different; 
it’s more of focusing on what you need within what you have and the rest is savings.  
 
Tin, comment on Sun Life Foundation is pivoting in light of the pandemic and what larger scale 
initiatives are you also taking?  
 
Tin 
Sun Life in the Philippines is celebrating its 125th year. We are now scaling up the program 
since it’s been proven to be working; we aim to reach 125,000 teachers after 5 years. Imagine 
how many families will be impacted. In terms of pivoting, we’ve been in constant conversations 
with our partners and since we study the behaviour of teachers, we found out that the behaviour 
doesn’t change at all. It’s all about the implementation of the tool. We communicate through the 
digital space. In terms of other programs, annually we give out school bags. We don’t need 
school bags in this pandemic (laughs). We’ve talked to the other teachers regarding other 
school supplies they would need to be distributed. Also, over the years, we’ve always had 
scholarship programs. They now need an allowance or stipend for the internet.  
 
 
 
Pawi 
Teacher Jennifer, what advice would you give to your colleagues to safeguard their finances to 
give them hope for the future?  
 
Jennifer 
To have your plan, kahit wala kang long term goal, at least a short term goal na kaya mong 
abutin. Napaka-importante na sa panahon ngayon meron kang savings. Ang pinaka-importante 
sa lahat na isipin mo yung pamilya mo. Matuto tayo magsave at magbudget.  
 
Pawi 
On that note, for TJ and Tin, your last remarks for our listeners?  
 
TJ 
From a behavioural perspective, madali mafeel overwhelmed but dahil sa 10,224 teachers, 
narelaize natin na if you just start on one habit, it can create a lot of impact on your life. Start 
small. Do what you can do now, do that consistently.  
 
Tin 
It’s really all about the commitment to change to better your life for you and your life. Sun Life 
Foundation is here, kaakbay niyo kami. Ang sarap niyo po tulungan; they practice what they 
preach. We’re happy to hear stories of transformation.  
 
Pawi 
We’re going to wrap things up with our Play of the Week. We talked a lot about work, now let’s 
talk about play. Any fun activities or recommendations for our listeners to unwind from the 
busyness of business?  
 
Jennifer 
Actually, hindi nga siya pag-patanggal ng stress (laughs). I play Scrabble online. Iba’t iba yung 
kalaban mo, mas masaya pag nanalo ka. To lessen dementia, you have to play puzzles daw na 
mag-eexericise sa mind mo.  
 
TJ 
Most of the day, I spend 10 hours on the screen but at least an hour, I’ll spend it on paper kasi 
nakakapagod. Actually, we’re developing a nudge on reducing screen time. Play time is paper 
for me. I’m reading The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the most phenomenal women in the 
world.  
 
 
 
Pawi 
My play of the week is two things. One of my neighbors, who works for the Czech embassy, 
noticed that I liked books. Without warning me, I came home to a goodie bag filled with books 
from the Czech embassy. Some of them are European stories translated in Filipino. One is 
called R.U.R. by Karel Capek, one is a book of short stories and the last one is a travel book by 
Jessica Zafra.  
 
Tin 
I’m very big on meditation right now. I’m using this app called Calm. It’s just sitting there and not 
judging your emotions and feelings. I feel myself more calm so I would highly suggest it and it’s 
just ten minutes of your day.  
 
Pawi 
We talked about financial, physical, mental and spiritual health. It’s great having you, thank you! 
And thank you out there for listening. This is part two of our ongoing series with Sun Life and 
stay tuned for the next episode as we dive into financial planning for educators and OFWS. You 
may visit ​Sun Life​ to learn more about Sun Life’s products and services.  
 
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​ ustle@rappler.com​ for your chance to be the next guest 
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