Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo Puyat of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez launched Bacolod’s Paleng-QR Ph Plus at the Libertad Public Market on Tuesday, March 14, making the city the first to adopt the program in Western Visayas.
“We are happy to note that 1,889 or 78 percent of registered market vendors and 1,158 or 59 percent of transport drivers as of end-February 2023 in the city are already onboarded to the Paleng-QR Ph Plus. With this, Bacolod is on track to becoming a digitalized and financially inclusive city,” Puyat said.
The program aims to maximize digital cashless payments through smartphones in markets and tricycle hubs. Benitez said Bacolod is the seventh city in the country to adopt the Paleng-QR Ph Plus. The cashless transactions are part of his push to make Bacolod a more intelligent and digital city, he said.
Councilor Celia Flor, chairperson of the Sangguniang Committee on Markets and Slaughterhouse who authored City Ordinance 1019 adopting the Paleng-QR Ph Plus program in Bacolod, also said it is part of the mayor’s vision to make Bacolod a smart city.
“We will encourage not only the use of digital payments but digital technology to ease the lives of our constituents,” she said.
Puyat said through the leadership of Benitez and the ordinance authored by Flor, which the city council approved, Bacolodnons can now enjoy the many benefits of cashless payments.
“The benefits of Paleng-QR Ph Plus create ripples of progress for our communities and the entire economy,” she said.
In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital payments enabled the conduct business and purchases in the safety of homes, she said.
“Now that most of us are able go out, customers can buy what they need from markets or pay for transportation without having to bring cash,” she said.
“The Paleng-QR Ph program will help merchants and their customers, tricycle drivers, and commuters to open a transaction account that they can use for digital payments. By using digital payments, they can now prevent the spread of counterfeit money and the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. They can also use their transaction account to access other financial services such as loans, insurance, and investments,” the BSP said,
“For LGUs, it will be easier to provide ayuda and other financial benefits directly to the transaction accounts of their constituents,” it added.
Prior to the event Tuesday, the BSP and the Bacolod City government conducted financial literacy sessions on account onboarding and digital payments for market vendors and PUV drivers. GCASH
As part of a collective campaign to promote digital transactions the Philippines, the Paleng-QR Ph Plus initiative was rolled out in Bacolod City also in collaboration with GCash.
Thirty percent of Bacolod’s population is now registered with GGash, Cathlyn Pavia, GCash assistant vice president for public sector partnerships, said.
Under Paleng-QR Ph plus, vendors, and tricycle drivers can now easily transact with their customers and passengers with QR-based cashless payments powered by GCash, she said.
Currently, there are 102 market stalls in Libertad South Public Market and 1,385 market stalls citywide that can accept QR payments through GCash, its press statement said.
In addition, GCash has onboarded 1,772 vendors in the city as Pera Outlet (PO) partners, it said.
This feature on the app allows small merchants to earn extra income and grow their businesses by offering customers in the community convenient access to various GCash services such as Cash-in, Cash-out, Pay Bills, and Send Money.
To further promote the use of cashless transactions, GCash has also set up GTreats booths at the public markets to reward users when they pay using GCash.
“GCash has been a staunch ally of 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,” Ren-Ren Reyes, its Chief Commercial Officer, said.
Also present at the launching were Bacolod Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, councilors Em Ang , Psyche Marie Sy, Claudio “Kalaw” Puentevella and Jude Thaddeus Sayson, and Local Government Regional Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero.*