How to Invest in Government Bonds in the Philippines through the Bonds.PH App
Guides,  INCOME OPPORTUNITIES,  Money-making Platforms

How to Invest in Philippine Government Bonds Through Bonds.PH

If you read personal finance books or blogs, most of them will tell you to never put all your eggs in one basket. They advise you that you need to diversify your investments. The reason for this is to minimize risk since investments do not always go up. 

Aside from stocks, mutual funds, UITF, and VULs, one of the investments you can also try to explore are bonds. In this article, I’ll discuss about how to invest in government bonds in the Philippines through Bonds.PH.



What are Bonds?

Bonds are debt securities. A borrower issues a bond as proof that they are borrowing money from the lender (investor). The borrower is the one who sets the terms of the loan, interest payments, and the maturity date in which the loaned funds must be paid back to the investors. 

To put it simply, people are investing their money by lending it to the borrowers, and in return, the borrowers will give a specified rate of interest to the loaned amount.

A bond is considered one of the safest investments since it’s fixed-income security. It means that interest returns are fixed and the principal amount will be given on the maturity date.



What are the types of bonds?

In the Philippines, there are two basic types of bonds being offered to investors. These are government bonds and corporate bonds.

Government Bonds

Government bonds or also called Treasury bonds (T-Bonds) are types of bonds issued and backed by the Government. The proceeds of these bonds are used to support government spending and finance new projects. 

Let’s take an example from the retail treasury bond offered by the Government earlier this year.

How to invest in government bonds: An example of treasury bond in the Philippines
A Philippine Government bond that offered 4.375% interest per annum, with 3-year maturity.



If you invest P100,000 on this bond, you will earn P4,375 every year before taxes and a total of P13,125 after 3 years from this investment before taxes.

Corporate Bonds

Corporate bonds are issued by corporations. They use the proceeds to raise funds to finance the company’s operations, expansions, or refinancing of any existing debt. 

This is an example of a corporate bond offering:

A Philippine Corporate bond from Vista Land that offered 5.6992% interest per annum, with 5.5-year maturity.



If you invest P100,000 on this bond, you will earn P5,699.20 every year before taxes and a total of P31,345.60 after 5.5 years from this investment before taxes.

*Interest payments are usually given every quarter and subject to 20% withholding tax.



Government bonds vs. Corporate bonds: Which is better?

Given the example above, does it mean it is better to buy corporate bonds rather than government bonds?

This is not the case all time as the interest and the tenor of the bonds depend on the issuer. The government can also offer higher interest and longer tenor of the bonds compared to bonds offered by certain companies.

This July 2020, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has collaborated with financial technology players, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank), and Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX) to launch the Bonds.PH App for the distribution of government-issued treasury bonds.



What is Bonds.PH?

How to invest in Government bonds in Bonds.PH?


Bonds.PH is a blockchain-enabled mobile app where investors can conveniently purchase retail treasury bonds (RTBs) for as low as PHP5,000 and redeem them through electronic payment channels.

The app will make bond investing easy especially to unbanked Filipinos since users can fund their accounts using e-wallets GCash and PayMaya and over-the-counter deposit at UnionBank.

Opening of accounts is completely digital, available 24/7 and accessible to all Filipinos anywhere in the world. 

How to create an account in Bonds.PH

Investors must be eighteen (18) years old and above.

  1. Download the Bonds.PH mobile app
  2. Click sign up and create your account
  3. Enter the following information:
  • First and Last Name 
  • Email address
  • Mobile number 

            Then click “Sign Up

  1. Set a 6-digit pin
  2. Check your email inbox and confirm your email address 
  3. Then go back to the log-in page and enter your email address
  4. Enter the One-Time Password (OTP) that was sent to your mobile number
  5. Then enter your 6-digit pin and you will now be able to access the Bonds.PH app

To fund the account and start buying bonds, you need to verify your account first.

How to verify your account

Step 1

  1. Tap menu and click “Verify my account
  2. Click “Start Account Verification” 
  3. Read and accept the Bonds.PH App Terms of Use
  4. Read and accept the Data Privacy Policy

Step 2

  1. Enter your personal information including your Government ID and its number
  2. Enter your present address and permanent address (if it’s not the same)
  3. Choose your employment type, your monthly income, work/business industry, and address.
  4. Select ID and upload a photo of it 
  5. Take a selfie while holding the ID and upload it
  6. Click next and it will show all the information entered for review (you can edit if you need to change some information)
  7. Click submit and your information will be reviewed for approval.

Step 3

  1. Read and accept UnionBank’s Terms and Conditions of Distribution Group
  2. Read and accept Investor’s Undertaking
  3. Answer Yes or No (Have you ever bought treasury bonds through Unionbank before?)
  4. Result of account verification will be sent on your email not later than 12PM on the next business day after the application.
How to invest in government bonds and create an account in Bonds.PH?

After successful verification, you can now fund the account and start buying bonds.



What type of bonds can you buy on Bonds.PH?

You can only buy Government-issued bonds on Bonds.PH app. Right now, you can invest in the newest retail treasury bond being offered by BTr named RTB-24 Progreso Bonds.

The reason behind its name “RTB-24” is because it is the 24th Retail treasury bond offer by the Government since its first launched RTBs in 2001. Since then, it has become a staple fund-raising exercise for the national government’s priority programs and providing an avenue for the small investors to earn while helping in nation building.

RTB-24 overview

RTB-24 Progreso Bonds Para sa Bayan



Issuer: Republic of the Philippines through the Bureau of Treasury

Offer Period: July 16 to August 7, 2020

Issue Date: August 12, 2020

Maturity Date: August 12, 2025

Tenor/Term: 5 years 

Minimum Investment: P5,000 (multiples of P5,000 per additional investment up to an aggregate of amount of P500,0000) 

Coupon/Interest Rate: 2.625% per annum

Interest Payment Frequency: Quarterly, subject to 20% final withholding tax except for tax-exempt institutions

As mentioned earlier, the government issues bonds to raise funds. The RTB-24 proceeds will be used to aid the country’s efforts to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 and to support the sectors most affected by the pandemic, such as the healthcare system, unemployed OFWs, and the struggling MSMEs. 

It may sound patriotic, but investing in RTB-24 is one way we can do to help our government and the country during this pandemic. And it’s not just helping because our money grows at the same time. 



Final Thoughts

The RTB-24 interest rate (2.625% per annum) is significantly lower compared to the previous bond offers such as the recent RTB-23 (4.375 per annum). But we should not focus on this, more than the interest, we should applaud the government’s effort and initiative to offer a platform where Filipinos can conveniently invest despite the pandemic.

With Bonds.PH, anyone who has a smartphone can now access this type of investment that was once only accessible to the rich and banked Filipinos.

You should try to open an account even if you’re not ready to invest yet. Who knows, once the pandemic is over and the economy starts to recover, they might issue a bond that has a higher interest rate. 

Sheila is a civil engineer by profession but has switched careers to become a copywriter. She loves making sales through stories that are relatable to the average person. She's also a sucker for memes and thinks she’s the funniest person in the world (even though she knows that’s not true). Her favorite drink is Kopiko Brown coffee, but she'll also take tea or beer if it's offered.

4 Comments

  • Mon Umezu

    ohayou she. i am about to buy rtb24 via bond.ph app but change my mind upon seeing the 4% interest offered by CIMB – in any ways you are right… i will keep my bond.ph app and account because maybe in the near future the govt will offer a much more higher interest bonds.

    Thank you for your very informative blog and.more power.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *