Subic Bay Freeport — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority has taken a step
further to provide its stakeholders in this premier freeport a faster and more
convenient way of paying their bills.
The SBMA recently signed a memorandum of agreement with Intercommerce
Network Services Inc. (INS) and I-Pay MYEG Philippines Inc. (IPMPI) to further
enhance its Electronic Bills & Payment System (eBPS).
“I think this eBPS would help our stakeholders a lot in terms of convenience in
bills payment. This will save them time and fuel. Instead of going to our Treasury
office or to any Landbank branch, they could just pay online or visit a partner
merchant, at their convenience,” SBMA chairman and administrator Rolen C.
Paulino said.
In September 2015, the SBMA first launched the eBPS, initially with the LandBank
of the Philippines as a collection system partner, and INS as provider of electronic
payment platform.
However, with the emergence of a vast number of electronic payment systems,
especially due to the restrictions during the pandemic, the demand for additional
payment channel options encouraged the partnership to venture into other
possibilities to explore further enhancement that will provide efficiencies to SBF
stakeholders.
So in 2021, the INS introduced IPMPI to the SBMA to provide an additional
electronic payment and collection system partner, giving stakeholders more
options of choosing from over 90,000 electronic payment channels.
“We are more than happy that MYEG will be part of this initiative together with
Intercommerce. Thank you very much for the partnership and for the trust that
you have given MYEG,” said Ann Margaret Saldana, IPMPI CEO.
Saldana said that electronic payment channels such as 7-Eleven, Cebuana Lhuiller,
Palawan Express for cash payment, and GCash, Maya, GrabPay, Shoppee Pay, as
well as credit cards for mobile payments, will be available with the intervention of
MYEG.
She also assured that INS and MYEG will be working hand in hand to make sure
that the citizens will be familiar with the platform that they could use at their
preferred convenience without having to go to different offices to settle
payments through cashiers.
INS president Francis Norman Lopez sees the partnership also as opening doors to
other payment requirements of the agency.
“We hope that this would also be extended to the other payment requirements of
SBMA like port facilities or services, and payment of other transactions of the
SBMA. For that matter, I think, SBMA would be the first that would cover all its
electronic payment transactions,” Lopez said.
Paulino added that with the eBPS, the SBMA would also be complying with its
obligations to the national government–Ease of Doing Business Act for providing
convenience to stakeholders, ARTA for paperless transactions by opening digital
payment services, and Executive Order 170 or the Adoption of Digital Payments
for Government Disbursement and Collections.
With this MOA the SBMA shall authorize the INS and IPMPI for a period initially of
one year to enhance the electronic billing and payment system and include MYEG,
and its partners, as an additional payment gateway and to utilize the IPMPI’s
multiple payment channels.
The implementation of the eBPS will be a big plus-factor to investors trying to
make it happen in the Philippines, the convenience of payment transactions when
they invest in Subic Bay.
The eBPS will be re-launched virtually on July 25 and 26 via Google Meet.
