BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA & MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City – Market vendors and public utility vehicle drivers here began easing into a cashless mode of payment.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) formally launched Paleng-QR Ph Plus at the Libertad Public Market earlier this week.
Bacolod City is now the seventh local government unit to adopt the program and the first in Western Visayas.
The nationwide implementation of Paleng-QR Ph Plus is 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 official added.
BSP deputy governor Bernadette Romulo Puyat said 1,889, or 78 percent, of registered market vendors and 1,158, or 59 percent, of transport operators have already adopted the Paleng-QR Ph Plus.
Under Paleng-QR Ph Plus, market goers and commuters can now make payments for their purchases or commute using cashless transactions such as Globe’s GCASH and Smart’s Maya (formerly known as PayMaya).
In a separate statement, GCash chief commercial officer Ren-Ren Reyes said GCash has been a staunch ally of the government’s thrust to build an inclusive digital economy.
“We believe that the Paleng-QR Ph initiative can help accelerate the country’s digital transformation while ensuring nobody gets left behind,” Reyes added./PN
