PayMaya supports government efforts to digitize relief payouts

CEBU, Philippines —  Electronic payments firm PayMaya expressed interest to work more closely with the government to promote easy and fast cash disbursements of financial aids amid the pandemic.

“Mobile wallets like PayMaya are playing a critical role in enabling Filipinos to gain access to much-needed financial aid from government agencies and local government units. We support DSWD and the rest of the government’s efforts to digitize citizen disbursements,” said PayMaya Founder and CEO Orlando Vea in a statement.

PayMaya has been working with government agencies to allow beneficiaries to receive financial assistance directly to their PayMaya accounts. It has partnered with the Social Security System (SSS) for the Small Business Wage Subsidy program (SBWS); the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for its Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) fund and most recently, as an option with Relief Agad; as well as the local governments of Manila, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Caloocan, and Quezon City.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Information and Communications Technology (DICT) launched a mobile app last month to facilitate automated cash aid distributions for the emergency subsidy program (ESP) which aids poor families affected by the coronavirus lockdown.

The app, called “ReliefAgad,” was developed due to challenges in the implementation of the first tranche of payouts for April.

The DSWD said these challenges included a lack of beneficiary data, the laborious process of collecting and encoding beneficiary information, and delays caused by manual cash distribution.

Beneficiaries would be able to register for the ESP by digitally inputting the same information they would put on a physical social amelioration card (SAC) form. Then they can choose among GCash, PayMaya, or cash (to be distributed by local officials) as their preferred method of payment.