PayMaya leads the charge on Digital Government by enabling national agencies and LGUs to accept all kinds of cashless transactions.
Over 60 government agencies and units at both national and local levels have chosen PayMaya as the platform to provide citizens and businesses with a safer and better way to pay for taxes and fees. Agencies included in the list are the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Land Transportation Office (LTO), Bureau of Customs (BoC), and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The government has also tapped PayMaya to deliver financial aid to Filipinos who lacked a bank account. To date, they have been able to distribute over PHP 4.5 billion in assistant from government agencies directly to PayMaya accounts of beneficiaries. The government agencies are the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), SSS, DTI, Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
“The government has not only made public services more conveniently and safely available in this challenging time but it has also undeniably supercharged the engine for financial inclusion. At PayMaya, we are happy and proud to be one of the main partners of the government for this transformation,”
said Orlando B. Vea, CEO and Founder at PayMaya.
The Pivot to Digital Government
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting everyday life, the government had turned to digital payments to process revenue collections and distribute much needed assistance safely and conveniently.
As response, PayMaya has deployed its plug and play solutions such as PayMaya Checkout, One by PayMaya, and PayMaya QR to the government’s tax agencies agencies such as the BIR and BoC; state enterprises including SSS and Pag-IBIG; and other revenue-generating agencies such as the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), DTI, DFA, and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA).
PayMaya has also become the government’s disbursement channel for Social Amelioration Program, Small Business Wage Subsidy, and LTFRB’S assistance to affected drivers, among other programs.
Meanwhile, constituents of the cities of Batangas, Davao, Manila, Marikina, Paranaque, Ormoc, Taguig, and Valenzuela can now pay their local governments via card or QR through PayMaya’s cashless facilities. Various provinces, cities, and municipalities are also utilizing PayMaya’s disbursement platform for their citizen assistance programs. These include Bataan Province, Caloocan City, Manila City, Mandaluyong City, Pasig City, Tarlac, and Quezon City.
Last July 2020, PayMaya launched the LGU Embracing and Accelerating Digitalization (L.E.A.D.) Program to help local governments do cashless payments and digital disbursements. With the L.E.A.D., LGUs can also support businesses in their communities to offer cashless payments and their citizens to transact through their digital financial accounts. The company has also actively worked with the DTI, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), the Bureau of Treasury (BoT), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and SEC in promoting various cashless initiatives in line with Ease of Doing Business and the transparency thrust of the government.
Government Ignites Radical Shift to Cashless
The latest e-Conomy SEA 2020 report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company revealed that the average number of cash transactions by consumers declined from 48% pre-COVID-19 to 37% post-COVID-19.
“Our country’s digital transformation is propelled by our government’s decisive cashless pivot amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, it is not a question of going cashless as consumers and businesses are already choosing digital as their default payment. As the country’s only end-to-end digital payments platform ecosystem enabler, PayMaya serves all – consumers, enterprises, and the government – in the most inclusive way possible,”
said Vea.
The PayMaya CEO noted that the passage of important legislation such as the Use of Digital Payments Act and Better Normal in the Workplace, Public Spaces, and Communities would further mandate cashless payments as the preferred mode. This complements the existing Ease of Doing Business Act of 2018 and the Digital Government Takes Off with the Help of PayMaya’s Cashless Platform.
“By equipping the government with end-to-end tools and supporting its digitalization policies, PayMaya is committed to contributing significantly towards driving electronic payments to 50% of the total transactions by 2023, as estimated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,”
Vea said.
“We are confident the Philippines can make this happen, with the government rolling out the National ID, which when linked to digital financial services could become a service platform for a more responsive digital government in 2021 and beyond,”
Vea added.
