In a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC)-Digital Infrastructure Cluster in Malacañang held earlier this month, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. expressed his support for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)’s Paleng-QR Ph Plus program, which enables market vendors, public transport drivers, and other merchants to use e-payments for their transactions using quick response (QR) codes.
During the meeting, the president said he wants government agencies to educate Filipinos on the use of e-wallets and other digital payment apps, noting that he sees the use of digital payments as a way to spur economic activities, especially with the participation of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
IMAGE CREDIT: www.inspirisys.com
Members of the PSAC agreed, saying that the adoption of QR codes and the use of digital payment apps will make savings and loan applications in banks a lot easier for the public, especially farmers, fisherfolk, and small businesses.
“We have to do it. It’s a grassroots-level approach. There are also videos on YouTube and we also have TikTok to get people to educate themselves. If you use the app regularly, you will see it being offered to you on the app,” said PSAC Member Ernest Cu, President and CEO of Globe Telecom, while noting the country’s very high technology adoption rate.
“We are excited to start serving the public markets using QR codes,” added Cu, who described the use of QR codes and other digital payment apps as something like “a home run” for the government.
The BSP, together with e-commerce platforms Union Digital, BPI, PLDT, Globe Telecom, and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., have teams that are now going around the country conducting information and education campaigns on the Paleng-QR Ph Plus program in different cities and local government units (LGUs).
BSP program to serve as a basis for evaluating the creditworthiness of MSMEs
For his part, BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla said that through the Paleng-QR Ph Plus, digital databases that track transaction habits can serve as a basis for evaluating the creditworthiness of households and MSMEs without credit histories or sufficient collateral for accessing loans and other financial services.
“This helps in the financial inclusion advocacy of the government,” he said.
Spearheaded by the BSP and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Paleng-QR Ph Plus encourages the use of QR technology as a convenient, safe, and efficient payment solution under the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2022-2028.
By scanning merchants’ QR codes using mobile phones, customers can pay for goods and services quickly and conveniently.
The program is also in line with the BSP’s “Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2020-2023,” which aims to transform half of the volume of retail payments in the country into digital form and onboard 70 percent of Filipino adults to the formal financial system by this year.
The BSP has led the launching of the Paleng-QR Ph Plus program in the cities of Baguio, Cebu, Davao, Naga, Tagbilaran, Pasig, Lapu-Lapu, Bacolod; and the towns of Camiling, Tarlac and Carmona, Cavite.
For more information on the Paleng-QR Ph Plus initiative, visit https://bit.ly/PalengQRph.