PayMaya Philippines, Inc. is now an official partner in automating the transactions of the Philippine Contractors
The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by the Department of Trade and Industry, PayMaya, Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), and Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) authorizes PayMaya to be a digital collecting agent for the services of Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP) starting with the PCAB Online license renewal.
With this integration with PayMaya, users will have a more convenient payment option since they will now be allowed to pay within the PCAB website for license renewal itself, using credit, debit, and prepaid cards as well as with their PayMaya-registered mobile number. Upon PayMaya’s collection of the renewal fees from the contractors, Land Bank of the Philippines will serve as the settlement bank, which will then remit the payments to the Bureau of the Treasury.
“At PayMaya, we have always been supportive of the government’s continued pursuit of providing efficient, transparent, and accessible services to the public with the help of digital payments. We are delighted to assist DTI-CIAP in their digital transformation journey, enabling them to offer much-need services to various industry stakeholders as well as allowing Filipino contractors to transact safely and conveniently from their homes, especially in light of our current public health situation,” said PayMaya Founder and CEO Orlando B. Vea.
PCAB, with the assistance from USAID DELIVER Project, has successfully integrated an end-to-end digital payment system for the said online renewal facility to further promote efficiency in the license renewal process.
“The service of PayMaya is a welcome digital payment option for contractors. We are happy to continue pursuing modern services for the benefit of our industry stakeholders, as we can help them reallocate their time from applying licenses and permits to growing their businesses thus paving more avenues for job creation,” DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez said.
In the recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo Duterte underscored his call to simplify processes for government transactions in line with the pandemic situation as well as the ease-of-doing-business in the country. “I reiterate my call for all government instrumentalities to implement systems that shall make physical queuing a thing of the past,” President Duterte said.
“This initiative, and the online renewal platform system, manifest the commitment of the national government to lead the way in digital transformation and compliance with the Ease of Doing Business Law.” DTI Sec. Lopez added.
A move to modernize services towards economic development
CIAP Alternate Chairman and DTI Undersecretary Ireneo Vizmonte proudly announced that “this MOA complements the effort of CIAP in modernizing its services as we have committed last January 8 this year, together with the PCA and all relevant stakeholders, to work on 30 action plans for the next 10 years.”
The 30 action plans were set to realize the full economic and employment potential of the construction industry and achieve the government’s vision declared in the Philippine Construction Industry Roadmap 2020-2030: Global Partners in Building Nations. “One important action agenda is the modernization of the services across the whole organizational umbrella of the DTI-CIAP, and a large part of that is the simplification and automation of contractor’s license applications,” Vizmonte added.
“[This] is a momentous event as we formally launch our partnership between the online renewal system application with PCAB and PayMaya. This online platform of PCAB was only developed in four weeks’ time as the urgency of finding alternative mechanisms for the efficient delivery of services, despite the pandemic we are all experiencing, is of primary importance,” said PCAB Chairman Dr. Pericles Dakay in his MOA signing speech. “Working with the kind assistance and the generosity of the USAID-DELIVER Project, we are able to design an operational system for license renewal applications which went live last June 2, 2020,” he added.
Since its launching, there have been 8950 sign ups, signaling that the PCAB Online Renewal Portal has gained traction and support from the contractors. As of August 7, PCAB has renewed and released around 5,000 digital contractors’ licenses out of 5,593 online submissions.
The Philippine Contractors Association (PCA), PCAB’s long-time private sector collaborator, voiced their support on this endeavor as they commit to continue working with the government in improving business transactions through online systems that harness e-commerce like PCAB’s online contractor’s license renewal portal.
“Every partnership is monumental. Our members are happy with this and challenge us to deliver even better. It is always rewarding to see how we create solutions together, as we shift from the usual or conventional to convenient way of making transactions,” PCA President Wilfredo Dacena said. “PCA will continue to work with the government to make the industry stronger. We keep looking forward to the continued partnership especially as we work together in emerging from this crisis,” he added.
The whole PCAB licensing system is still undergoing a continuous process of improvement. “Our resolve is to work with our stakeholders, as we continue reviewing and developing better systems covering all our other transactions, to cater and benefit all contractors,” assured Executive Director, Atty. Herbert DG. Matienzo.
More e-payment options will be integrated and made available soon for faster and more convenient transactions as DTI-CIAP, PCAB, and USAID continue working to improve the system and collaborating for the future automations of other transactions such as new applications for license, upgrading of license category, consortium and joint venture applications.
CIAP is an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.
PCAB released 5,000 digitally renewed licenses through PCAB Online Renewal Portal
“This entire situation and experience reminds me of the great philosopher Socrates who once said that ‘The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new’ I must say this best describes how we are able to rise up to the challenges of this pandemic, of course, our digitization has a long way to go but we will get there,” the Philippine Contractors
“Working with the kind assistance and the generosity of the USAID-DELIVER Project, we are able to design an operational system for license renewal applications, which went live last June 3, 2020,” Chairman Dakay added.
In a month’s time, PCAB, together with its partners and construction consultants, and with the IT and technical support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), revisited the Contractor’s License Law (RA 4566) and conducted comparative analysis and benchmarking of licensing international best practices.
As key outcomes, the PCAB Online Renewal Portal was developed, and pertinent documentary requirements were relaxed and reduced from 24 to just nine (9) digital submissions. These are done not only as a COVID 19 response, but as a move to further automate PCAB’s transactions. The initiative’s core objective is to advance the ease-of-doing-business for the construction industry that contributes about 17% of the country’s GDP based on the 2019 statistics and creates a multiplier effect in the economy particularly in job creation—one of the most crucial components of the Administration’s economic recovery plan.
“We focus on building something from scratch while forging partnerships with our companies that also aim to provide the best services possible. I am optimistic that this is just the start of better and greater things to happen and that we will continuously change via creative and innovative disruption,” said Chairman Dakay.
Improving the system, more payment options
On August 7, 2020, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) with PayMaya, Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), and Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) to authorize PayMaya as an additional digital collecting agent for the services of CIAP, specifically starting with the PCAB Online license renewal. With this integration with PayMaya, users will have a more convenient payment option since they will now be allowed to use credit, debit, and prepaid cards as well as their PayMaya-registered mobile number for payment.
“This is the first time that PCAB is embarking onto automating its decades old processes, and this is a learning experience for the rest of us here. We immediately convened to plan and improve payment options that is why we have engaged more partners in the process such as the Bureau of the Treasury and the PayMaya,” PCAB Executive Director Herbert E.D. Matienzo said.
Currently PCAB has 8950 registered contractors in the system that is about 59% of the estimated 15,000 PCAB-licensed contractors up for renewal by the end of July. Since the PayMaya and 7/11 ECpay channels were made available, the number of payments also increased to 5,654 from 104 renewal applications during its first week in June.
This effort is pursuant to the vision of the Philippine Construction Industry Roadmap 2020-2030—that is to have a construction industry equipped with efficient, modern, and digital technologies, founded on a culture of integrity, professionalism, and innovation. The 30 action items identified in the Roadmap for the Construction Industry of the Philippines (CIAP-PCAB) aim to modernize its services in compliance with Ease of Doing Business Law.
The Philippine Contractors Association (PCA), PCAB’s long-time private sector collaborator, voiced their support on this endeavor as they commit to continue working with the government in improving business transactions through online systems that harness e-commerce like PCAB’s online contractor’s license renewal portal.
“Every partnership is monumental. Our members are happy with this and challenge us to deliver even better. It is always rewarding to see how we create solutions together, as we shift from the usual or conventional to convenient way of making transactions,” PCA President Wilfredo Dacena said. “PCA will continue to work with the government to make the industry stronger. We keep looking forward to the continued partnership especially as we work together in emerging from this crisis,” he added.
Contractor’s License Renewal extended until September 2020
PCAB still encourages contractors to renew using the PCAB Online Renewal Portal even until the end of September 2020 without any penalty. However, it should be noted that those who fail to accomplish their renewal will not be given a license to continue operating until they complete the renewal process.
“We also thank REID Foundation, who’s always with us in crafting our construction industry roadmap. PCAB would like to also acknowledge that the fast pace of the development of the portal would not have been possible without the collaborative dialogue with private sector partners, most especially, the Philippine Constructors Association (PCA),” PCAB Executive Director Matienzo said.
More e-payment options will be made available soon for faster and more convenient transactions as PCAB and USAID continue working to improve the system and collaborate for the future automations of other transactions such as new applications for license, upgrading of license category, and consortium and joint venture applications.
CIAP is an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.
