BSP’s Paleng-QR Ph in Metro Manila cities soon

After implementing the Paleng-QR Ph Plus program in several key areas outside of the National Capital Region, the central bank is launching the digital payments ecosystem in Pasig this week, the first of prime cities in Metro Manila.

Paleng-QR Ph Plus is a nationwide initiative that promotes digital payments in public markets, transportation hubs, and other business establishments.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said they will launch the Paleng-QR Ph in Pasig City Mega Market on Friday, March 3, with both BSP, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and local government officials attending.

The BSP has recently introduced the program in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, last Feb. 17 and in Naga City in the Bicol region last Feb. 10.

The first LGU to receive the Paleng-QR Ph was Baguio City last August 2022, followed by Davao City in November, and Tagbilaran in Bohol last month.

The BSP’s first NCR city is Pasig to be followed by other key cities in Metro Manila, to onboard more market vendors and public utility vehicle drivers as participants who can now accept digital payments from their customers.

BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla said the BSP will continue to champion the country’s financial inclusion agenda with the QR Ph. “Our Paleng-QR Ph program will be building on the successful launch in Davao and Baguio and replicated in other parts of the country, namely Pasig, Naga, Lapu-Lapu, and Tagbilaran,” he said.

The BSP first announced the availability of the Paleng-QR Ph in June 2022. The main objective is to promote account ownership using QR Ph which is the national QR code standard that allows transfers between participating banks and e-wallets.

Since LGUs will help BSP in onboarding the targeted users to have transaction accounts, LGUs may partner with QR Ph-enabled financial service providers or FSPs.

“The Paleng-QR Ph program highlights the significance of market purchases and local transportation fares as basic components of an average Filipino’s typical payment pattern. Until a market vendor and tricycle driver can accept digital payments, transitioning to cashless transactions would be difficult for an average Filipino consumer,” said the BSP.

Basically, LGUs are expected to issue policies and ordinances to incentivize or mandate the use of QR Ph digital payment by market vendors, tricycles, and other such merchants.

During launch day, LGUs assist the onboarding of target users to a transaction account, such as by organizing an account opening day in coordination with FSPs who have QR Ph capabilities.

The BSP has been helping LGUs to expand digital payment acceptance, part of its objective to migrate 50 percent of all payment transactions into digital form by this year. As of end-2021, about 30.1 percent of transactions are already digital.

The BSP also complements its Paleng-QR PH Plus with the Piso Caravan under its Clean Note and Coin Policy and the Coin Recirculation Program. The caravan is a currency exchange program to promote digital payments and to remove unfit banknotes and coins from circulation.