CTO will go e-Payment
To promote transparency and zero cash shortage the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) will go e-payment where fees settlement can be done through online.
City Treasurer Marloun Gumbao has partnered with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) Koronadal Branch to make possible of the electronic transactions that it has been long planned for faster and easy access business deal with tax-paying clients. “Through the online system, any individual anywhere in the world can pay their monetary obligations to CTO”, Gumbao explained during the cabinet meeting.
LBP Koronadal Branch Head Elmer Europa and Krizza Paras, Cash Solution Department of the said bank presented the features of payment platform where many Local Government Units (LGUs) and other government agencies such as Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation (GOCCs) and Cooperatives were already using it.
Paras made clear that their e-Payment facility allows clients to pay for products and services via online from both government and private institutions. It is operational seven (7) days a week except if doing system maintenance. Also, it has a centralized enrolment of qualified merchants and can handle small and large value payments with no limit on transaction amount however, there is a transaction fee to be imposed on the clients depending on the payment option they are going to use.
As some LGUs have been using similar tax collection system, Paras cited Valenzuela City where it can collect as much as 5 million pesos through debit while some electric cooperatives and water districts also adopted for billing collections.
Europa also assured LGU-Koronadal that once it starts online payment, LBP will help inform the city’s clients about the system. As of the process, the approval of the CTO’s application is subject to the submission of necessary documentary requirements such as resolution from the Sangguniang Panlungsod, Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), merchant enrollment form and merchant payment inquiry user enrollment form.
With much appreciation, Mayor Eliordo Ogena immediately expressed his support to the program citing that digital has an advantage because all transactions can be speeded up and money can be protected. “We’re going to digital in the spirit of responsibility, medyo delayed but we’re catching up”, Mayor Ogena said as he approved the said platform.
Gumbao wants the system to be functional in December so that it can be used for the Business-One-Stop-Shop (BOSS) in January 2022.